Do leaks ruin the gaming experience?

[LITTLE LEVEL]

With so many tools to leak things in games now, leaking has become a common thing in the gaming industry. But how does it affect the game? Me personally I love leaks related to updates coming to the game. It really gives the community something to look forward too when they see the leaks and it gives the community a way to respond to what is coming so if the content is bad the company can just scrap it.  Though when it comes to story leaks I try to avoid them. I like experiencing the story myself and going through it officially the same time as others. So what do you guy think? Do leaks ruin games/gaming?

[Accessing]

I have always been on the fence about datamining because it becomes a means of content than it does any actual value to us, you or the community overall. Like many great things people pick and choose what to share but always look to share with the motive to grow their own following, monetize engagement or in some cases I've seen put themselves on a pedestal above others. 

Leaks play all kinds of parts and is impart itself usually datamining. Let's not talking about datamining though (or least I'll stop at that) and more of the after effects. 

Leaks are good for

• Building more anticipation for a game, mode or new equipment
  No one could argue, its exciting to see some of the things to come to any game. When the Pelican was leaked as a Forge item in Halo Infinite I was pretty ecstatic about it.
• Showing development progress and holding developers accountable 
  Where a few studios lack in communications leaks tend to solve for that, though the accountability part can be overbearing so long as its with good intentions discussing content before its available typically isn't a negative.
• Early feedback 
  There was 2 leaks I can think of that came straight from 343 Industries and partners. I would deduce this is for feedback and review from select group of people like the HCS pros on game modes or forge council for maps. In such circumstance leaks have value as the information is disseminated. 

Leaks are bad for

• Compromising the studios projects
  Not everything is ready for public eyes and viewing, in this its an invasion of intellectual privacy. A good example is the Falcon which was leaked but no where near ready so was ostracized and criticized as "horrible looking" when it was low poly. 
• Builds expectations that are often not met
  Every community has a problem with tempering expectations. It is often with leaks that more is expected than what actually comes into the game. Teams might practice on maps that are leaked to be in HCS only to find out on release it is a different map entirely or practiced strategies do not work. 
• Influencers use leaks to posture, grow audience or create narratives
  This would be a good thing but most do not posture in favor of 343 Industries and instead use leaks to grow their audience for engagement, impressions and monetization. There is quite a bit of drama involved in this space and the root of it really is the idea that a few people watermark leaked images with their alias, moniker or a discord invite link. 
• Intellectual property theft 
  Many might disagree with me here and it might read as something more serious than it is but using assets from games for Blender art or other 3D media and charging commission is a form of digital theft. From just assets this expands into the actual act of datamining that is typically in fine print on one of the terms of services documents you agree knowingly or unknowingly to follow.

Overall Leaks are bad and carry a negative connotation regardless of the good that comes from them. Its best to on a personal basis to only explore where and what you want to know and avoid anything that is watermarked.