Help:Spoilers
This guide aims to provide guidance to our editors on what does and does not constitute a spoiler.
What is a Spoiler?
For the purposes of articles this wiki, excluding the main page, the following is considered a spoiler:
- Plot development and story beats of the main narrative of the game.
- Examples of main story spoilers include, but is not limited to:
Spoiler warning! This section reveals details about the story of Baldur's Gate 3.
Act One
- Kagha's affiliation with the Shadow Druids
- The Shadow Druids are hiding as rats in the Emerald Grove
- The Artefact is protecting the party from the Absolute
- The Tadpoles have been tampered with by Netherese magic
Act Two
- The Nightsong is a person
- The Nightsong is Dame Aylinn
- Isobel is Ketheric Thorm's daughter
- Isobel died and was resurrected.
- The Chosen of the Absolute/The Dead Three are Gortash, Orin and Ketheric
- The Absolute is an Elder Brain
- Shadowheart might defy Shar
Act 3
- The Sharran Mother Superior is Viconia DeVir
- Sarevok is still around
- The Absolute is a Netherbrain
- Gale can attempt Godhood
- Karlach can become a Mind Flayer
- Gortash can betray you and die
- If the spoiler concerns the subject of the article, it is acceptable to leave it unhidden, provided there is a spoiler warning at the top of the article.
- Scripted character deaths in any act, including deaths outside of player control.
The following are not considered to be spoilers on the wiki:
- Jaheira and Minsc, as characters and companions featured in pre-release marketing material.
- Spoilers regarding the subject matter of the article.
How to mark spoilers
There are multiple ways of marking spoilers on the wiki. We do want to effectively warn the user about spoilers, but we do not want to disrupt the user experience.
Spoiler Warnings
For more information about the Spoiler Warning template see Template: SpoilerWarning
When creating an article that includes spoilers, you should add a spoiler warning to the top of the page. We generally want to avoid overuse of Spoiler Warnings. When Spoiler Warnings are overused, they lose their efficiency and people begin to ignore them.
Spoiler warning: The following content contains unhidden spoilers for Act 1. |
Major characters, Factions and Quests, as well as Regions, should have a {{SpoilerWarning|act=#}}
at the top of the page. Substitute # for the number of the act most appropriate for this page. For character pages and quests, this will often be the act the subject first appeared in.
You should also use the spoiler warning shown above on less important pages that contain spoilers for major characters.
Spoiler warning: The following content contains unhidden spoilers for Act 1. |
Minor characters, Factions, and Quests, as well as Locations, should have a {{SpoilerWarning|act=#|nograd=1}}
at the top of the page. Substitute # for the number of the act most appropriate for this page. For character pages and quests, this will often be the act the subject first appeared in.
Recurring Characters
For recurring characters who appear in more than one act, it may make more sense to use the general act-agnostic spoiler warning. The same guidance provided above for whether or not to use the graded version still carries through.
Spoiler warning: The following content contains unhidden spoilers. Read at your own risk. |
{{SpoilerWarning}}
Spoiler warning: The following content contains unhidden spoilers. Read at your own risk. |
{{SpoilerWarning|nograd=1}}
Spoiler Boxes vs Blurs
When we want to hide a spoiler, we have two options: the Spoiler Box and the Blur templates. The Spoiler Box creates a box that has to be clicked to reveal the content within, while the Blur obscures the text until it is hovered over.
Spoiler Boxes
For more information see Template: SpoilerBox and/or Template: RomanceBox
When we need to tuck away a spoiler in the main content of an article, most of the time you'll want to use a Spoiler Box. To make sure it isn't missed, you should use the default Spoiler Box with the gradient: {{SpoilerBox|This text will be hidden.}}
. However, if you're using multiple Spoiler Boxes or a combination of Spoiler Warnings and Spoiler Boxes, you can use the ungraded version: {{SpoilerBox|nograd=1|This text will be hidden.}}
.
If you find yourself with an offhand spoiler in the main content of the article, ask yourself if including it is necessary.
We also have a Romance Spoiler Box, which is intended for the Romance sections of articles. All information about a potential romantic encounter the player can have with a companion or other character should be under a header called Romance, and inside of a Romance Spoiler Box.
Blur
For more information see Template:linkblur, Template:pblur, and Template:imgblur
The Blur family of templates is only intended for use in the navigation boxes or when a list includes a significant spoiler you wouldn't expect on the page. This is in part because there are accessibility concerns with blurred content, as well as usability concerns: it's a lot harder to use a page if large parts of it only reveal themselves when hovered over!
You may see Template:Blur and Template:SpoilerBlur used on existing pages. These two templates should be considered deprecated and be converted to, respectively, Template:linkblur and Template:pblur.