With recent events that do not need to be mentioned here, I started thinking how, as players, we can avoid story spoilers that will come along in waves when TOR is finally released.

 

revan from KOTOR by ~GeneralVyse on deviantART

 

 

Now, before I got hands-on time with the game in Austin, I really did not think about this matter much, but after playing and experiencing the story first hand I can surely say I will avoid spoilers at all cost. It makes playing a much more enjoyable experience, and knowing what will transpire before hand would take so much away from TOR.

 

Lets face it, for those that have played KOTOR and found out before hand they were Revan, well, the game would have been a little less enjoyable to say the least. With eight fully fledged stories in TOR the spoilers will be coming hard and fast, from all areas we go to for every snip of information.

 

Lets just have a wild stab at it that everyone who plays TOR will end up being Revan. (ok, not going to happen, just stick with me for a bit)

Lets say you’re just installing the game and jump on the SWTOR forums and you see a post saying that a player has found out that he is Revan. Then you peak inside and find another 30 players are also Revan.

You are going to be really pissed, even before stepping foot in the world right ?

 

You’re not going to get away from everything story related – that’s a given. But there are methods to block out the majority and still leave you to enjoy the game, and also BioWare should take a strong stance with players that are giving out spoilers.

 

First, BioWare should make a sub section on the forums that relates to anything that concerns story.  There will be many a player that wants to know how every class story pans out, and as such there should be a place for people wanting answers to be catered for.

Next, any post that could be considered having spoilers should have in brackets (spoilers) in the title.  Failing to do this should get the player a temp ban and a warning from the forum mods.

 

I will say this for those stupid people out there. DO NOT go to any site that had TOR data or TOR Wiki in the title and expect not to get any story related info. If you do go to these sites and want to enjoy the story for what it is, well, you’re just asking for trouble.

 

Your normal media and fan site should have in bold letters that story spoilers will be included in the post, so this should not be a big issue to most that want to just play and see the game unfold.

 

These are just a few simple steps to be taken outside the game, but lets face it, most of the time we are inside, playing, and as such there are a few small tricks that can help you along and still remain somewhat shielded from outside influences.

 

Guilds should also take a strong stance on any members who will blurt out story spoilers. Many mmo players still forget to use the in-game msg system, and like to tell everyone within ear shot how the game is now playing out.

We as players have a great tool at our disposal in this regards, none other than the Ignore Player Option. In TOR I expect to use this quite often.

 

If you come across someone who is taking about story in the open world, they will usually continue to do so all the way to end game. You have to stop these players at all costs if avoiding spoilers is your goal. The fact there is no full world chat system that the server will have is another great way that can somewhat minimize the amount of story you will come across.

 

If you happen to stumble on players that like to let other know what is about to happen it will be limited to you local area and information will be about something you may have already encountered or you are in the process of doing, so the impact will be slight.

 

In-game chat system is a good tool if used right. Many of the mmo players will segment their chat options into tabs.

One would be for guild chat, another maybe for trade and groups. Use these tool to their full advantage, try to stay off open chat as much as possible and really only use it when you are looking for a team to progress with. At all other times world chat should be the last thing you are thinking about when playing the game.

 

I wish you the best of luck when you are trying to avoid other players that like to ruin the game for you. Following these simple steps should at the very least help limit your exposure to the bad sides of that can come from TOR community.

 

Until next time, MrWarlock signing off.

Tags: spoilers, story