Why aren't escape rooms plagued by spoilers?

Why aren’t escape rooms plagued by spoilers?

23 February 2016

1 minute

Escape room owners are generally paranoid about spoilers. They are understandably afraid that if someone were to post a step-by-step walkthrough of their game on the Internet, their business would suffer.

There is some legitimacy to that fear. Just how much is tough to say because as far as I can tell, it hasn’t been a problem.

An open quart of milk with a letter padloy hanging around the mouth of the bottle. The lock spells "SPOIL."

Do spoilers really hurt?

It’s up for debate how much spoilers really ruin experiences. On RoomEscapeArtist.com, we go out of our way to avoid them, but it’s not clear whether they actually damage enjoyment.

Companies like The Basement in Los Angeles have been featured on Geek & Sundry, as well as The Bachelor. Their game has been well documented and their business is booming nonetheless.

Every video game has a walkthrough posted online and that hasn’t damaged the video game industry.

I’m not convinced that a spoiler could deal a lethal blow to an escape room. I’d like to think that these experiences are more resilient than that, but I could be wrong.

Why aren’t spoilers showing up all over the place?

We continue to wonder why this industry isn’t plagued with spoilers.

It’s not hard to spoil these games, if you’re motivated to do so.

The only answer I’ve come up with is competitiveness:

Players who lose don’t want other people to win.

Players who win don’t want to see their time beaten.

That’s the best explanation I see

I’m looking for a better one if you have it.

7 responses to “Why aren’t escape rooms plagued by spoilers?”

oui-oui

February 23, 2016 at 10:49 am

People who go to escape rooms do not want to spoil the fun for others. Fans protect other fans 🙂

Reply
1. David Spira
  
  February 23, 2016 at 10:51 am
  
  That may be true for many, but I can tell you based only on some of the Google Searchs that people use to find RoomEscapeArtist.com… That is far from true of everyone.
  
  Reply
Carol Farley

February 23, 2016 at 11:06 am

Our final instruction to players is just what you said…”Don’t spoil the fun for others, and don’t help them beat your best time”. Working so far!

Reply
1. David Spira
  
  February 23, 2016 at 11:09 am
  
  Some players don’t follow the rules. What intrigues me aren’t the ones who abide by the instructions.
  
  Reply
Dimitar Raev

February 23, 2016 at 3:13 pm

It is hard to spoil the whole thing … Usually people forget most of the riddles they strongly remember the experiance and 1-2 specific items but this is not enough to spoil the experiance for someone else ..even the opposite.

We had many cases with custtomers that knew some of the riddles, or expected something specific (like a hidden door ), and they still enjoyed the moment that part, even more then others in some cases.

Reply
1. David Spira
  
  February 23, 2016 at 9:43 pm
  
  To spoil an escape room, you don’t need to remember the solution to a puzzle, all you need to communicate is the method to get at the solution. And these games are short. You only need to spoil one or two big puzzles.
  
  I don’t think that recognizing a trap door as a trap door, or a particular type of puzzle as a spoiler… I do that all of the time.
  
  Maybe I am an anomaly, but I remember how to solve most of the big puzzles for most of the games I’ve played over the past couple years.
  
  Reply
David Spira

February 23, 2016 at 9:44 pm

Mink Ette tweeted, “I was thinking about if it because unlike computer games you can’t look up while playing when stuck”

https://twitter.com/mink_ette/status/702181773535526912

This lack of instant gratification seems like a good explanation as well.

Reply

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David Spira

Co-Founder of Room Escape Artist & Co-Host of Reality Escape Pod. David conceived of Room Escape Artist because he saw the potential of this new entertainment medium back in 2014. From the start, he applied his professional skills as a digital experience designer to the burgeoning industry of escape rooms. David is full of ideas: from in-depth research pieces to new content types… like cute animals solving puzzles. He is always pushing REA to try new things, take risks, and be something more.

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