Tanvi Vidyala, Week #10: Wordle
So if you've been on the internet sometime in the last month chances are you've probably heard of Wordle. It's a daily game where players rush to guess one five-letter word in less than six tries. If your guess has a letter that is in the word and placed in the same sequence as it is supposed to be that letter will light up green. If your guess contains a letter that is in the day's word but is not in the right place it will light up yellow. Using these clues becomes a matter of logic and strategically testing different word patterns. It gets quite fun, especially considering it is a daily event. Some people do theirs on the morning ride to work or school. Others (me) have terrible sleep schedules and do it at midnight the moment the daily word comes out.
There being one word each day creates a sort of competitive feeling between those who play. It's not uncommon to see people posting their wordle breakdowns which show how many attempts it took them to guess the word on social media apps such as Twitter, Instagram, and Discord. It became such a widespread phenomenon in just a few months can be equated to this. My and friend group have a channel on our server dedicated to sharing our daily Wordles. I enjoy figuring out the word of the day and even expanding my vocabulary. Sometimes the word is practically never used such as "truss" or "knoll." Other days it's something very common like "those" or "light." Part of it depends on how lucky you get while choosing your first word or two. Once I got the correct answer in only two attempts because I made a lucky guess. However, it does take some logic and thinking, though not enough to last more than 5 minutes. It's a quick and fun game that I certainly know the appeal of.
The game was made just a few months ago in the October of 2021 by a Software Developer named Josh Wardle. It picked up steam on social media this past month going from 90 players in November to over 300,000 players at the start of January (likely a lot more now). Wardle initially made a prototype for the game for his girlfriend back in 2013 who enjoyed word games of all sorts. Just a few days ago it was bought out by the New York Times for a price in the millions. Good for the developer! This also had people worried the game would become a paid-for service because of the New York Times's site's paywalls. However, as of now, it is still free to play and likely will remain free and unchanged as it shifts to the New York Times's brand.
So why did I choose this game as my topic? Well, the game is registered under the domain powerlanguage.co.uk which fits right in with our quarter theme of "Language and Power" I found it funny and instantly made the connection. It's certainly a fun game though. I'm not one for most puzzles but word games always interest me. I guess as APENG students it should interest you as well.
Works Cited
https://www.nytco.com/press/wordle-new-york-times-games/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/technology/wordle-word-game-creator.html
Hi Tanvi! I love the totally deep and meaningful connection between your blog and language/power. I was also recently introduced to Wordle by my friend during French class and your blog post has reminded me to complete the daily Wordle. Just the other day, in my APES class, this person in my table group was doing it and needed help, which resulted in our whole table group just playing Wordle for the rest of the class. I had no idea that the name "Wordle" is a play on words from the creator's name, and I thought it was very cute that he made the game for his girlfriend along with millions out of it. It's quite amazing how such a simple game became so widespread so quickly with the help of social media.
ReplyDeleteHi Tanvi, I have seen wordle a lot on social media. I would see the random tiles that I could not understand and ignore them, so it is good to finally get an explanation about the what the game is about. It is also pretty cool how the name of the game is pretty similar to the name of the founder. Another cool thing is how a new word comes up every day and everyone needs to try and match the word because in that sense every single player is playing the same level in a sort of way. I feel like this forms a stronger community behind it and it is why people can post their performance on social media and it will garner interest.
ReplyDeleteHey Tanvi, I've become so accustomed to doing the daily wordle and seeing those green, yellow, and grey emojis as my friends and I compete with each other, even roasting each other for taking one more try than the others. The game is very fun and I enjoy sitting there trying to logically think out all the possible words I can make, even if all I have is one yellow to go off of. The game has really made me and my friends practice logic and even try to create metas of the optimal routing for first and second word picks. The sense of community and bonding over a simple word game is something I didn't really expect, but now definitely welcome, especially since it is such a fun game.
ReplyDeleteHi Tanvi, like many people, I also recently got into Wordle after seeing a friend play. I think the concept is pretty cool. I also think that the developer also made a really smart decision by making it so that you can only play one puzzle a day. I think when you keep on playing any game, it eventually gets boring, and people stop playing. However, since you are only playing one game per day, it becomes more interesting and competitive. I also think it is really sweet that this game was developed out of love, and through it he was able to make millions of dollars. Another thing that I learned from your blog was that the New York Times bought the game. I was kind of surprised to learn this, as I had always associated the New York Times with news and articles. I did not expect them to buy a game, but I think that also speaks to the power and influence that the New York Times has on our society. By also gaining control over things like popular games, the company is able to increase their subscriptions as well as their power and influence over mass culture. In any case, Wordle is definitely both a fun and educational game that I personally think that the game deserves its popularity.
ReplyDeleteHi Tanvi! I actually finally decided to download Wordle recent after hearing about it from a lot of people and seeing my friends play. From what little I've played so far, I've really enjoyed the game. It's honestly so cool to see how such a simple concept for a game with such minimal rules can foster so much logic and strategy. I even found myself getting competitive with my friends over the game, and I can really see how the game has become so popular.
ReplyDeleteHi Tanvi! Through the course of your blog, I was truly astonished to see how proper of a connection you drew between this game, mainly considering how excited you might be on a daily basis to practically use your knowledge and logic to think of the word of the day. I loved how your team had also taken the initiative to expand your vocabulary by even creating a Discord server of your own that is dedicated towards the growth of this game. It is also interesting to think about how a software developer, who usually focuses on the programming end in comparison to game development, was able to design and market a really unique game. I never heard of Wordle as a game; however, I find its description really replicates the essence of the game Scrabble with the word creation aspect. However, they are quite different also since Wordle is a web-based game, whereas Scrabble is a board game. Thank you for drawing such a creative connection between our quarterly blog topic and the game, I truly enjoyed reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Tanvi, I absolutely love wordle!! I've been playing it for about 3 weeks now, and it's been a literal obsession. The best thing about it is that my older relatives are also playing it, so we share our scores with each other everyday, which has made us a lot closer. The game is so simple, yet so addicting. And I love the connection you made with the powerlanguage.co.uk- super creative! Thank you for this fun blog post, and I look forward to reading your next one.
ReplyDeleteI have actually never heard of this game before, but it sounds like it would be extremely fun to play. That connection to powerlanguage.co.uk is quite a catch, and the discord server you have set up to share the game is sure to be a great way to connect to others as well as improve your vocabulary. This game does, as Lakshmi says, have some similarities to Scrabble, but it is its own original work and it does seem to be extremely creative and highly addicting. I love reading, and I think that I would love to play this game when I have the time. Thank you for introducing this new game to me!
ReplyDelete