Are We Getting Better At Keeping Spoilers Off The Internet?

Another season of Game Of Thrones has come to an end, but something was different this season. No, not just the concept that it might be a bit tired, or that it might be relying ever more on shock tactics, but in the way that spoilers have spread online.

Season Five of Game Of Thrones had its fair share of shocking moments designed (depending on your perspective) either to encourage online water-cooler style talk, or simply to shock for the sake of outrage.

I’m not saying what they are, because you might just be reading this before you’ve seen all the episodes. If you have, I should probably point you towards Chris and Campbell’s Season Five Recap. You can argue about its value to your heart’s content there.

What interested me with Game Of Thrones this time around, however, was how generally polite people were in regards to spoilers. There were some major moments in the series that in previous years would have been splashed all over social media and major news sites in a way that made it impossible to avoid. It’s a strong argument that the pro-piracy types often use when justifying their naughty ways.

Side reminder: If you want to be cranky about Game Of Thrones in particular, blame HBO. They’re the ones who set the terms for their deal with Foxtel, which, amongst other things, keeps Game Of Thrones off Presto as well.

For this season, and a lot of recent TV programming, there doesn’t seem to have been that same spoiler-heavy focus. I was seriously worried when Netflix launched Daredevil, both because I truly love the character — thirty years worth of back issues can attest to that — and because I knew my own timing wouldn’t allow me to “binge” watch the series in a way that I know many people did.

I didn’t want the series spoiled for me in any aspect, and previous experience had suggested this was likely. That led to me being rather short with friends when they started to discuss it, which, frankly, wasn’t terribly polite of me.

At the same time, though, nobody spoiled Daredevil for me. Nobody spoiled Game Of Thrones for me, and at least anecdotally it appears that more and more people are becoming aware of the annoyance factor of spoilers.

Could it be that the Internet is somewhat growing up when it comes to inadvertently/trollishly spoiling the entertainment enjoyment of others? What’s your recent experience with online spoilers been like?

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