Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Meta-spoilers EVERYWHERE

So, as I'm sitting at home (long story) taking advantage of the incredibly nerdy double-monitor setup that this computer has by watching Youtube on one monitor and updating blogger on the other, I've decided it's time for Polly Rants About Stuff.
In this case, Doctor Who.
In this case, Doctor Who Spoilers.

There are rules to the internet. There are rules about Spoilers. One of those rules is that you don't post spoilers on certain parts of the internet. Twitter tends to stay relatively* spoiler-free, you know you don't go on Tumblr until you have seen the most recent thing because there will be screencaps and gifs and audio posts within seconds, and Facebook is where everyone posts information about the episode 4 days after it airs and then everyone gets really upset at them because they think Facebook is the whole internet.
But the same people who are so upset by people sharing information about plotlines and quotes and weird little comments are the same people who are often posting the sneakiest type of spoilers: the Meta-Spoilers.

These are the people who search the news sites and the second they find something like x-actor's contract expires at the end of season 2 and y-actor's contract lasts for 4 years and z-actor's just been signed on for 6 episodes in season 7, they will post it everywhere.

I may be alone in this [I may also be very tired because I had to get up super early, I'm on drugs that make me drowsy, and I had a blood test this morning (long story, once again)] but I absolutely hate meta-spoilers. I think they're just as bad as me watching the episode three weeks early because I have connections at BBCA** and telling everyone on the internet what happened.
I like being surprised by things like that.
I like being worried for a character's life without knowing that his actor's contract's good for three more years.

I don't really understand why one type pf spoiler seems to be okay to post, and why the same people who scream, "No! Spoilers," at any plot-related comment are the first to ruin the mystery for everyone else.

___
*compared to Tumbler.
**I do not, in fact, have connections with BBCA. Yet.


Post-thought: I'm currently thinking about tabletop gaming, where there is the Game, the Meta-Game, and the Meta-Meta-Game.
Simply put, the Game is when you all sit around the table and play the game.
The Meta-Game is when you, outside of the game, talk about characters and the game, and share things out of character that you would not share in character.
The Meta-Meta-Game is when you lie about your character in the meta-game to throw other people off.

The game never stops. The game never sleeps. You are always on some level of meta- playing the game.
And you have just lost it.