There are various games in various states of release, which means that not everyone will be able to play all the games. As such, we have spoiler rules to make sure people don't get spoiled before they play the games, considering spoilers are especially bad for Ace Attorney. The penalty for breaking spoiler rules is a week-long suspension, so... don't break them!

Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Spoiler rules are in place indefinitely. Discussion of DGS spoiler material, including DGS2 pre-release info, must be tagged in the post and/or thread title, and they should only be discussed in Trial Minutes or Baker Street.

Also try to be considerate about spoilers in general, especially from newer works. If somebody asks you to tag something, we're probably going to come down on their side if a problem arises. This doesn't mean you need to tag everything, though; we aren't going to come after you for revealing that Darth Vader is Luke's father.

The bottom line is to be cautious and considerate. When in doubt, it's always safer to tag it.


(One last note: if you ask someone to tag a spoiler, if you do so by quoting their post, make sure you put the spoiler in the quoted post in your post in a spoiler tag. Not doing so completely defeats the purpose of asking them to tag it.)

About the spoiler rules: Is it really necessary to tag everything you write about the content of e.g. a new trailer when the whole purpose of the thread is to discuss said trailer?

"Everything"? No. But unless the topic title boldly states "SPOILERS" and even then, it's best to use Spoiler tags for the juicy things.

I think the main post needs a little revising now considering all the new promotional material shown after the first post was typed.

Just wondering...

Is it ok to use the sig?

I am asking due to the typo.

That would be fine; it doesn't spoil anything about Simon that's not in his official profile.

Is it ok to use a direct quote from Blackquill in the sig?

Does it say something obviously spoilery?

Not really, it is just one of his sword-quotes.

Spoiler rules have been updated!

tl;dr:
GK2/AAI2: Spoilers only in Gourdzilla's Lair. With the release of the patch, spoiler rules will probably be lifted... but not yet
PLvAA: Spoilers only in Labyrinthia. Spoiler rules will be lifted some time after the NA release.
DGS: Spoilers only in Courthouse Steps. While we don't have much info yet, we're being clear about spoiler rules now for when more info invariably comes in.
DD: Spoiler rules have been lifted!

September 14 Update:

GK2 spoiler rules have been lifted! It's been 3 months since the English patch was completed and released, which we feel is enough time for people to play it (especially since it's free).

Since it seems DGS info is starting to come in, I reworded the DGS section of the post a bit. The actual spoiler rules for it aren't changed at all, though!

I also removed the note about DD at the bottom of the post. It's old news now

Wait wait does this mean people can freely post GK2 spoilers without care? It's still common courtesy to tag right?

I've kinda been saving it for times when I'm on night shift and so I'm cracking through the final case now.

People can post spoilers without care, but it's still common courtesy. I mean, some people still tag Dual Destinies stuff. General rule for me is to just tag it if you wouldn't want it spoiled for you. Saying L'Belle is the murderer of 5-2 is not a spoiler because it's revealed at the beginning

Yep, people can technically freely talk about GK2 spoiler stuff, the same way I can just open and casually mention how Krissy is the big bad of AJ.

Like you said, it's still common courtesy for people to tag, and people shouldn't just randomly go "HEY GUYS THE KILLER OF GK2-5 IS [whatever]" in, like, the random convo thread out of nowhere, but it's no longer insta-1 week suspension for posting spoilers outside of a marked thread.

The final paragraph of the post will always apply:

As it has now been more than three months since the international release of Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney, the spoiler rules have been lifted. Dai Gyakuten Saiban is still subject to the spoiler rules, though.

Spoiler rules have been updated for AA6!

DGS spoiler rules are also still in effect.

Just testing spoilers.

Slightly unrelated matter but some folks, myself included were interested in spoiler rules being put in place for games in general. Is that going to be discussed?

If this is going to be discussed, I'd like to add the question "Would these spoiler rules also be in place for remakes of older games?"

C-A

Well, we can discuss it at the next staff meeting and see.

We've decided to beef up spoiler rules a little bit. We're not going to be micromanaging spoiler rules for all games or anything, but we're making it clear that "be cautious and considerate" applies to all spoilers, not just the ones for the games explicitly mentioned in the rules. The newer the game, the more likely we are to rule that untagged spoilers are problematic. You don't need to tag everything, but use your common sense, and if someone asks you to tag something, even if you don't think it's a spoiler, it's still better safe than sorry.

Also, a note: if you ask someone to tag a spoiler, if you do so by quoting their post, make sure you put the spoiler in the quoted post in your post in a spoiler tag. Not doing so completely defeats the purpose of asking them to tag it.

Does that extend to spoiler avatars and signatures as well?

I'm gonna say yes. It's really not considerate to put massive spoilers for a game that just came out in your avatar/signature, now is it? (Plus it'd seem like a pretty big loophole.)

Of course, you also have a bit more leeway with avatars/signatures, since they have no context, so you might be able to hide minor spoilers like that. But, y'know, just try to find a non-spoiler image of whatever it is that you want.

Which is difficult to do if something a character does or says happens at a rather important, and hence rather spoilery, moment. For example, Luke fon Fabre cutting his hair. It's a big moment, because it's a symbol of him vowing to change into a better person - sure, the game is over a decade old now, so it's not the same as having an image of a recent game's spoiler, but it is technically still an important enough even that most people would consider it a memorable twist.

C-A

Yeah but its not a spoiler moment. If it's just a picture symbolising character change. Its not a surprising plot twist or obvious what the detail is. To any onlooker, even one who is currently playing the game and knows who the character is (I.e. the real target this rule protects) it would just look like "oh, he cuts his hair at some point. Wonder why?"

Let's go back to the classic Aeris dying scenario. Imagine it was new, fanart of angelic Aeris or Sephiroth stabbing Aeris or Cloud holding the body...iconic images that would generate plenty of art are outright spoilers at the time. The Luke one I would say is quite subtle and doesn't give away much as you need to have played the game to get the context.

Though I suppose this is a fair point in highlighting these will probably need dealt with on a case by case basis.

Cough Cutting one's hair is generally considered a major thing in most videogames. It symbolizes the desire to make a new start, to change their way of being or could be the result of something traumatic that makes them want to symbolically say goodbye to their old self. Say those reasons could be because of a plot-important breakup or realizing what a horrible person one was.

It's not as not-spoilery as you might think. The Luke example certainly doesn't tell you the reason why he decides to become a better person, but it shows that something so huge happened that it caused this spoiled little brat to man up. If anything, it's an implication of a spoiler or major event.

For your Aerith example, think if the big event involved a near miss and it cut majority of Aerith's braid off. Or even if she were to cut her, say... post-Golden Saucer, when she has a scene with Cloud. She cuts her hair and the implication could be that she is letting go off Zack, whom she's held in her memories as an important treasure - she's not forgetting up, but decides to move forward.

C-A

I'm not saying it's not a meaningful event but it doesn't imply any real content or context that an outside would get. It doesn't explain anything about the "plot-important breakup" or the "horrible person" or the "maybe they need to go in disguise at one point?" or the billions of other explanations people can think of for why someone cuts their hair. To the untrained eye it looks like a character cutting their hair, it implies that maybe an event happens that causes him to cut his hair but nothing of the event. Ergo, nothing is spoiled as "bad stuff will happen to people who then struggle against it" is a given in most games. Character development is expected in most games, so all that image would spoil is "something happens that necessitates character change? or a haircut."



I think we've miscommunicated something here. I'm not referring to a hair cut for Aeris like from the Luke example. I'm meaning if someone straight up posted a deviant art of the iconic stab or the iconic lowering into water scene. Those are clear implications that "Oh snap, Aeris Dies" that would kind of ruin it for someone.

But like I said, it'll probably need to be judged on a case-by-case basis by the mods.

Yeah, I think a lot of this will have to be a case-by-case basis.

Luke cutting his hair is actually kind of a bad example, since he's shown with short hair in the intro :P

My personal opinion is that an Important Haircut is probably something that shouldn't be shown shortly after the game's release, but would be fine sooner rather than later. Like Pierre points out, a visual change in a character is not nearly as spoilery when it's devoid of context. To use your own example, Cat, in this hypothetical version of FF7, if someone saw a picture of Aerith with short hair, they wouldn't know if Aerith's hair was cut because Sephiroth tried to kill her or because she's finally let go of Zack. It's a spoiler that something happens, but I don't think it's a big secret that games nowadays tend to have plots.

The American COVER of the game spoiled you, including the manual as well. Hey, at least the Japanese Cover and manual of the game made sure to not spoil the haircut there.

C-A

Well I only have the Japanese 3DS version so

The 3DS cover was the same for Japanese and localized releases. It was just that everyone was spoiled who grabbed the localized PS2 version. I mean, I know westerners don't put that much emphasis on the whole 'cutting your hair is very symbolic' thing, but we do have that idea, so why would they change it? The cover wasn't 'fluffy' in the Japanese version. It didn't need to be made 'hardcore'.

C-A

To put it into perspective for me, it reminds me of Garnet in FF9. Prior to having played the game, I knew little to nothing about Final Fantasy 9. I happened to know she had long hair and I found out that later, she cut off her hair. I didn't know why or anything and when I eventually played the game, that scene where she cut off her hair came off as a complete surprise and had an emotional impact on me. Knowing prior that she was gonna cut her hair at some point didn't detract from my experience in the slightest.

Basically, I'm saying that I really feel that unless you know the game, a character getting a haircut isn't huge as far as spoilers go and personally, I see it as very minor.

Personally, I think if we were to address an aesthetic change playing spoilers so to speak, using Final Fantasy 4 for example, something like Cecil changed as a Paladin or showing a grown up Rydia is something that warrants more spoilers.

Then again, it's all subjective and I think we all need to use our best judgment. I actually appreciate this small argument and point Cat brought up about what she considers spoilers, even if some other people don't. Goes to show that others are going to have different opinions on what qualifies as a spoiler and that even if we disagree, we should go out of the way for that and respect their wishes. And if we, or someone else puts something up that someone else considers spoilering, even if the original poster doesn't, we should tag it anyways. Like what Bad Player said, it's better to play it safe than be sorry. Especially on newer games.

Just hope people actually pay attention to this because I have been bothered as of late with some spoilers just being out in the open all willy-nilly, especially on newer popular games.

So I want to make this image my avatar:


Does it count as a spoiler?

So how much longer till SoJ spoiler rules are in effect?

Also with the new fanslation coming out soon,is it alright to talk about DGS more freely?

Wait, really? It's already close to release? Got a source, maybe? For... reasons.

Actually, it's only the translation of the first episode that is coming out soon™. It is not known how soon, though.

I think you can already talk about DGS, just be sure to tag every potential spoiler.

Re: SoJ: We haven't spoken about it, but spoiler rules typically last a couple months after release, so they'll probably be released in a month or so. (We might extend it a bit further than usual, since there might be a surge of people who get it for Christmas or something.)

Re: DGS: It will probably be the same deal as GK2, where it won't have spoiler rules lifted until some time after the full release of the fan translations, if/when it comes out.

So now that Christmas has long passed,what is the stance on SoJ spoilers?

We're still deciding exactly what we want to do, but they'll probably be lifted soon-ish.