Sure, you’ve heard about the online game Wordle and how it has taken the world by storm. Recently acquired by The New York Times, Wordle is only growing in popularity. Even celebrities like Jimmy Fallon are sharing their Wordle grid with followers.
However, it started with a man named Josh Wardle, who created the game for his partner who really enjoyed word games.
Wordle was featured in The New York Times, but did not start gaining traction until the share feature was created. He purposefully made the game so players could only play once a day so users would not feel like they had too much of it and get tired of it. He claims that things that are enjoyed too often, lose their charm. It keeps participants on their toes and excited for the next day where they get to take another shot at extending their streak.
The concept of the game is to guess a five letter word in only six tries. After every guess, the letters will either stay gray or turn yellow or green. When the letter is gray, that means it is not in the word. When it turns yellow, it means it is in the word but not in the right place. And when the letter is green, that means it is the correct letter in the correct place. However, it does not revealhow many times that letter may appear in the word, so that is up to the player to figure out.
Each day there is a new word as it resets at midnight.. Every consecutive day that players guess the word correctly within the six tries, they start building a streak. The only real reward from guessing the word is bragging rights and a small sense of pride. Players also have the option to share their daily results with friends to show exactly how they figured out the word, which makes it all the more fun. There are so many strategies and tricks, but if anyone is like me, they rely on luck in order to figure out the word.
Now why is Wordle so popular? This simple word-game that can only be played once a day has captured the interest of millions of people playing daily.
Dr. Aditi Subramaniam, a neuroscientist, says that the absence of ads and the simplicity of a website is one of the biggest draws for players.
Since it has been acquired by The New York Times and sits beside its other games, they said that moving forward, players will not have to pay to play Wordle like they have to for their game subscription. Wordle will remain a free game, which is also very enticing. Free and no ads, what more could be asked for?
Just like other social media platforms,Wordle does not play into addiction and binge behavior. Dr. Subramaniam says how it goes back to pen-and-paper style hangman, which does not result in any sort of binging.
“Simultaneously feeds what’s known as the scarcity principle (we want something more if it’s rare) and avoids the variable reward system.” Dr. Subramaniam writes.
From a psychological perspective, it makes sense that, as humans, we desire what we know we can’t have, so that is what keeps us coming back day after day. Dr. Subramaniam also believes that this fad will stick around, because of the once-a-day principle and the relative ease of playing.
As previously mentioned, the sharing feature has allowed for the simple game to have a social aspect without actually spoiling what the word is. It is basically free advertising for Wordle when people share their grids because it sparks curiosity, ultimately drawing new players in. While having the ability to share with people all over the world, it makes it a perfect game for an era of instant, social communication, especially over long distances.
Wordle has faced some technical changes as it has turned over to The New York Times. They have taken away the ability to guess obscure, insensitive and offensive words. Many users are claiming that the words have since been a lot more difficult than before and are causing outrage on various social media platforms. Some of the words from this past week were caulk, cynic, aloft, and ulcer, which are not commonly used words, but nonetheless stumped a lot of people.
The New York Times has strong claims that they did not change anything about the game and that we may just not be as smart as we think we are.
Play Wordle, and find out for yourself.