GameBanshee Forums

People playing Dragon Age probably should avoid reading this post. Really, shoo.

Just thought I'd mention that I've received a couple PM's from members in reference to the "Companions" page in the Dragon Age subsite. Unsuspecting players have apparently gone to this page looking for info on a specific party member and been spoiled by the revelation that the game's antagonist is a joinable character.

What I have seen on most sites, including articles found at the Dragon Age wiki that link to their main page on that companion, is just the use of "Secret" in place of Loghain's actual name. That would be my recommendation.

Aqua-chan wrote:Unsuspecting players have apparently gone to this page looking for info on a specific party member and been spoiled by the revelation that the game's antagonist is a joinable character.

I realize that having him listed among the companions is spoilerish, but that's really what our subsites are there for. If someone isn't familiar with the game and doesn't want to be spoiled, then checking a companion listing on a spoiler website like GameBanshee has its consequences . Our about page has read the same since day one:

Much of our data can be considered "spoiler" information, so you may want to use caution when reading through our content pages to avoid ruining the fun of the game.

I don't want to ruin anyone's entertainment, but if we start "hiding" spoilers, where do we stop? Do we hide location information on equipment pages for people who only want to see the stats? Walkthrough links to areas that might not be known to new players? Should Sarevok be hidden on our Baldur's Gate II subsite and HK-47 hidden on the Star Wars: KotOR II subsite? I just don't think it's feasible given that the whole purpose of our subsites is to provide any and all information about the game, spoiler or not.

I was spoiled by the revelation of Sarevok being an NPC when checking the site, and I was also among those spoiled by the Loghain mention. The latter made me angry - I had just paid $60 for a playable story, and I was just outright told one of the final plot twists with no warning - but I accepted it as a "hazard of the internet". Now with multiple members messaging me I think it's become a legitimate issue. I do wish you would reconsider.

Is it right to take away one of the big moments from the game experience so the site has a "cleaner" look? In all honesty, if you list an NPC as "Secret" or "Spoiler" or what have you, people who are familiar with the game will know who it is. Meanwhile, newbies looking up specifics on a character they have in their party at least don't have it thrown right up in their face. Loghain's mention is among the top in the list; it is, quite frankly, unavoidable.

I'm not suggesting a whole revamp of the site and censoring this and not censoring that. All I propose is that we don't needlessly ruin the experience for players of this game -- a very new game, which is still fresh to a lot of people. In the forums we have our members black out information like that when they post out of courtesy. I would think that sentiment should extend to the main site.

In the end I will abide by your final decision, but it is something that is making visitors to our current highest traffic forum upset. Either way, it needed to be brought up. And let's be frank, Buck. Nobody reads the "About" page.

Just want to add that this happened before with the Neverwinter Nights 2 subsite. The spoilerish descriptions were then given spoiler tags, check: Neverwinter Nights 2 @ GameBanshee


Everybody wins. I noticed the color of the font used for the spoiler wraps doesn't seem to match the current site layout. Maybe fix that while you're at it.

Hmm... I suppose there's no harm in renaming "Loghain" to "Secret" on the navigation bar, at least while the game is still new to quite a few people. I'll go ahead and make the change. I'll also swap the spoiler font color on the NWN2 companion pages to hide them a little better.

Thank you, Buck. I'm sure this'll spare our visitors a lot of frustration down the road.