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As I just mentioned elsewhere, I have a habit of screencapping screens that I find particularly striking. It occurred to me today that it might be a good resource to have a thread to collect screenshots of favourite screens in, so that people could see what 'works' for players, aesthetically speaking. Of course, every post in such a thread would be subjective, but even a collection of subjective impressions can result, eventually, in a picture that may convey some universals.

The problem with such a thread, of course, would be that it could easily 'spoil' the levels from which the screens are taken.

So... I dunno, would this problem be ameliorated somewhat if one did the posting without attributing the screenshots to the level they came from? Or if one did the attribution in spoiler tags, maybe?

And does anybody think such a thread would be a Seriously Bad Idea?

I think a screen gallery would only spoil levels if they gave away, say, important plot details, or some other surprise that the level's enjoyability hinges upon.

I like the idea, and I suggest that next to posting the image, someone should also add some text explaining what they like about the screen.

If the screen contains any spoilerage, I would suggest to edit out of the screen what spoils (if possible). I don't consider good looking graphics a spoiler for a level. More of advertisement (which is a good thing).

I would want to add a rule: don't post screenshots for your own level though. People will just promote their own level otherwise.

I like this idea.

Eh, I don't think it's a good idea. I mean, a gallery of beautiful screens would look fantastic, but the spoiler aspect really ruins it. If you don't include the attribution, people will feel frustrated that they can't play something they liked the look of. If you do include the attribution, for some levels it will be OK, but for others the spoiler aspect will be a bit too much. Same goes for spoiler tags on attribution, because most people will simply look there if they like something.

Think of your own level, what would remain of it if I posted Some people won't play it after seeing the screenshots, and some people will play it and feel cheated, since there's just one area that hasn't been spoiled. Same goes for quite a few levels. I mean, I still hate Razzorman for not putting the screenshot from Moonlight into spoiler tags even though I asked him to.

So I think a gallery like that is really a private thing, kind of like a memoir of places you visited. You don't want to ruin it for other people. That is, unless you only post screenshots from very large levels with tons of different environments.

Maybe if we put the screenshots themselves in spoiler tags, and the attribution in the main text, so that people could see beforehand which levels might be 'spoiled' by looking at the (still hidden) screenies, and decide if they'd be willing to take that risk?

Also... maybe people could just pay some attention to not spoiling secret areas?

And yeah,  @LP Chip, I did mean to include a discussion of why a screen 'works', just forgot to mention it. :-)

I mean, I still hate Razzorman for not putting the screenshot from Moonlight into spoiler tags even though I asked him to.

I must have missed that. Sorry.
I hope you didn't think that I  left it unspoiled intentionally.

I use to hang out around the zelda classic crowed (a great game maker, but way way way too freekin complicated) and they had a monthly or weekly screen capture contest.  It was really neat because you got to get a good idea of what people are making, a preview for various games, and a good since of competition.  I don't think there was ever any spoiler issues, mainly because a single screen will very rarely give away any huge secrets.  And when you found that particular screen in a game, you were always presently surprised to have found it. 

Maybe if we put the screenshots themselves in spoiler tags, and the attribution in the main text, so that people could see beforehand which levels might be 'spoiled' by looking at the (still hidden) screenies, and decide if they'd be willing to take that risk?

Eh, guess I didn't think about that. Shows how bad an organizer I am  Sounds like it could work.

Quote from: yohji on March 07, 2010, 15:49:52

I mean, I still hate Razzorman for not putting the screenshot from Moonlight into spoiler tags even though I asked him to.

I must have missed that. Sorry.
I hope you didn't think that I  left it unspoiled intentionally.

Thanks for fixing it; I've sent you a PM.

You know, there's a simple solution to the problem you're presenting here. Why not just avoid posting pictures that have spoilers in them? If a screen is obviously important to the plot of a level, it's clearly a spoiler, and thus should not be posted. Screenshots from secret areas actually aren't as much of a problem, as long as you don't announce that it is a screenshot of a secret area; in fact, when someone plays the level, if they've seen the screenshot, they might wonder why they didn't see it in the game and end up poking around more than they would have otherwise in order to find it.

I don't see a problem with this spoiler stuff. We are good people here and we have good mods and admins.

Maybe if we put the screenshots themselves in spoiler tags, and the attribution in the main text, so that people could see beforehand which levels might be 'spoiled' by looking at the (still hidden) screenies, and decide if they'd be willing to take that risk?

Yeah, this.

Different people have different interpretations of what's a spoiler and what isn't, though.

I posted a screenshot of Egomassive's "A Knytt in Time" that I didn't think was spoilery, but he felt it was extremely spoilery and asked me to at least spoiler-tag it. Similarly, Razzorman put up a screenshot of yohji's "Moonlight" that yohji felt was too spoilery, though Razzorman presumably hadn't thought it was spoilery when he posted it.

It's likely that, even if the player thinks their screenshot isn't 'really' spoilery but puts it behind a spoiler tag just in case, some level designers are going to prefer that the particular screenshot the player chose not be posted even behind a tag.

I think a thread like this is a good idea -- ironically, I was only motivated to finally download & play "Moonlight" after seeing the aforementioned screenshot, since I'd been expecting it to visually resemble "Pestilence" which, while a brilliantly-conceived level, is kind of hard on the eyes (though that really is, I think, a necessary component of "Pestilence", so this isn't a criticism or complaint). The logistics of it seem potentially problematic, though.