If the game is heavily story-based then, yeah, spoilers can turn me off playing the game. Coming into Mass Effect five and a half years after its initial release, I'd had a lot of time to pick up spoilers but somehow I didn't. If I'd known some of the key points they wouldn't have had the impact they did, but it wouldn't have been ruined. Something like The Walking Dead which is more character-focused would have had some of the elements spoiled majorly. I'd not gotten into The Walking Dead franchise before the game, so everything there was new to me.



The Walking Dead Season 1 Spoilers

I picked up on a couple of gameplay elements partway through (in episode two when I was barred from seeing Mark and told simultaneously that dinner was cooking I went "They've killed him. They've killed him and are cooking him and we are going to be eating him"; by episode three I was already going "Lee is going to die and you're left to play as Clementine") but others were shocks and surprised that I did not see coming (Lily shooting and killing Carley/Doug? Or how about just how Lee dies and the choices you can make).

Hate spoilers with a passion, people should be careful and give fair warning before dropping them casually. There's even the concept of "semi-spoiler", wherein someone doesn't directly spoil a plot element, but says something that leads the listener to do some guessing, which might or might not be accurate. Hate that as well.

On very rare occasions, though, a spoiler might lead to a different kind of enjoyment of the work. FFVII is the golden example for me, as knowing that in advance makes the previous moments downright creepy. I still wish I didn't have it spoiled though.

I generally look at it the same way I look at say, TV, a book, or a movie if it's a purely narrative experience. If it's worth watching, I'm gonna enjoy it anyway. It does take away from major twists, but I've always been a major fan of the little moments that are hard to put into spoilers. The things that make me laugh or smirk are the most enjoyable.

With gaming, there's the added benefit of the gameplay to help me through. There's always situations in gameplay that story spoilers just don't cover, some individual moment that makes the whole game.

Sometimes I seek spoilers out when looking for more information, other times I avoid them as best I can, but I consider anything to be easily spoiled, so I try to find a light to work with as best I can.

I've never really minded spoilers much, but I have a pretty awful memory, so they aren't often much of an issue. Most of the Mass Effect story was spoiled for me, but I had just as much fun seeing just how it all played out.

1. Yep
2. Probably
3. No. Okay, maybe.

I had a longer what-if list that included hot air balloons, wasabi sauce, beer goggles, and farm animals, but thought I'd keep it PG-13.

If the plot is spoiled, I'll throw a tantrum and refuse to eat my veggies!

Seriously though, the only time I get upset about spoilers is when I accidentally stumble upon an adventure game puzzle solution, that annoys me 100 times more than if important plot elements are revealed.

This thread reminded me of one of my favorite Kids in the Hall skits. (relevant at approx. 01:46)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rADdKqPNdaM
It's likely best that you left those out. ;)

Depends. Sometimes spoilers do hurt. Especially if an unexpected twist is the main selling point of the game or movie (example: The Sixth Sense).
But sometimes a spoiler would have been good. For example in the case of Divinity 2 I should have looked up the ending before playing. Then I wouldn't have bothered playing it. Disappointment is way less bad if you didn't spend hours working towards it.

I hate when people spoil plots damn.. they ruin the surprise and lower the enjoyment..
I'd play the game anyway, but with quite some anger..