Does everybody read NetHack spoilers?

[Boyo]

I never seem to get anywhere in NetHack, and I think it's because I've never read any spoilers.  I'd like to discover some of the game mechanics on my own, but is that even possible, or is reading spoilers pretty much required to play?

[Omnivorous]

I've read spoilers for all roguelikes I got hooked on. Not until after having died over and over and over and over again though ofcourse The first time I -really- dug into a spoiler, was when playing ADOM, and I just got sick of only being able to successfully play bashers...that in my hands, always died soon after early-game anyway.

I think ADOM has a steeper learning-curve than Nethack, but to put things in perspective, I saw one guy on the ADOM-forum that had refused to read -any- spoilers, and he spent 10+ years to be able to get a win.

It's even more rewarding when you discover things on your own, but roguelikes are so complex and mistakes so costly that quite frankly, I feel more than satisfied enough when advancing, succeeding and surpassing my own goals even when I have borrowed knowledge from other players.

It's just a matter of how many hundred times you are willing to re-roll to learn one new thing (if you are lucky) with each death. To me it came down to either, stop playing because I was getting fed up, or to read spoilers and keep playing.

Having fun is the only objective of playing singleplayer games! :-) And luckily roguelikes are so difficult, that even if you have read a spoiler, getting a win is respected nevertheless. Have fun!

[Vanguard]

If you want to have a realistic chance of actually winning in nethack in any sort of a reasonable time frame, you should read the spoilers.

[Numeron]

I think roguelikes are hard enough that finally winning, even fully spoiled, should be rewarded with a well deserved congratulations.

Its really not the same as using cheats or spoilers in other genres.

[elwin]

If you just want to play and have fun, you don't need spoilers.  I was hooked before I knew there was anyone else who played.

If you want to get somewhere, reading the Guidebook, getting hints from the Oracle, and figuring out strategy will help a lot.

If you want to ascend ten times in a row, you'll need a lot more than spoilers.

[Dedastary]

You could need years to finish Nethack without spoilers. And have in mind that spoilers are not only things that you reed on some web page. Forums are also major spoilers. Even if you do play it for years without spoilers there is no guarantee that you will be able to win (depends on class you play). I played it with wizard for couple of months with all the spoilers I could find, got to the Astral planes with a winning char untill I found out polymorphing books makes them fade faster. Astral planes is a bad place to forget crucial spells. Nethack is a game with bilion mistakes you can make that depend on your knowledge of the game. Most of those mistakes will return you to the begining.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Yes. Huge mistake. Not making the same mistake on ADOM.