Matthew;132521
For me, trailers are a little different because they are collections of short clips from different parts of the movie where as a game demo gives you one section of a game. This is why I made the , I think fairer comparison, of watching the first 5 minutes of a movie before you go to see it at the cinema. True though, I do think that some trailers in the past have been slightly guilty of showing a little too much of the movie they are advertising. It really all depends on how the trailer is done. The trailer for Ghostbusters is a perfect example of not giving it all away in the trailer by not showing the Stay Puft Marshmallowman.
You know what is weird. The commercials for the movies….some of them actually reveal the ending in them. I mean, I watched the movie and then I go back and look at the commercial and it spoils the ending of the movie. Though you don't really know this until after you watch the movie.
This is why demos and trailer do not bother me, because I don't know when or where the demo actually takes place The demo could be made up of a combination of many levels to make one short interval. Just like how a trailer can take sections of a movie to make it up.
Sometimes I never know when things from the demo occur in the real game. The F.E.A.R. demo was completly different from the actual game, but contains the same elements.
To give another simile to your demo and trailers is books. You know how in the folding of a book as a short paragraph or two explaining somewhat of the story you are about to read though never tells you the out come? That is what a demo is to me. Like reading an intro paragraph to a book. Just enough to pull me in.