Before you start sending me hate mail, don’t worry, today’s Wordle word is not STEAL (and if it is, I deeply apologize for the misfortune coincidence).
I love Wordle. For those of you who have never heard of Wordle, it’s quite a simple game; players have six attempts to guess a 5-letter word that changes daily. Through your guesses, the game shows your green, yellow, and gray titles indicating how close you are to the solution. I’ve religiously played the game since it was introduced to me and, like many other players, I’ve begun to take pride in my guess variations. For those of you wondering, yes, I am a strategic player who always starts with either ADIEU or TEARS or other words that maximize my first guess. I only started playing Wordle in January, but within the past month, the free word game has become part of my daily routine. Social media has also turned Wordle from a straightforward word game into a sort-of lifestyle.
But nothing good ever is ever free in tech.
On January 31, The New York Times announced their acquisition of Wordle, leaving fans disheartened and worried about their future with the game. The New York Times already has an assortment of mini-games like crosswords, sudoku, spelling bee, etc., so Wordle seems to be the perfect addition to their entertainment reservoir. But fans are afraid that their beloved word game will fall subject to the modern entertainment nightmare: a subscription-based model. While The New York Times has claimed that Wordle will initially be free, it’s only a matter of time before we see a white pop-up asking for login credentials to continue playing the game.
In a panicked frenzy, Wordle fans are already plotting ways in which to preserve the game on their machines. The most straightforward method is to go to the Wordle website, right-click on the screen, and save the webpage to your laptop. This saves an HTML file and a folder labeled “Wordle – A daily word game_files;” clicking the HTML file allows you to access the website. Of course, you could also code the app yourself, since the functionality and rules of the game are pretty simple – but what’s the fun in that? There’s also a multitude of Wordle knockoffs that fans can resort to, but they’ll never be quite the same.
I do not believe that the acquisition of Wordle by The New York Times was necessarily wrong. It makes sense that The New York Times would want proprietorship over Wordle, and their acquisition of Wordle allowed the creator of the word game, Josh Wardle, to part ways with his creation being a $1 million richer. And in the long run, The New York Times acquiring a new game doesn’t bring them much closer to having a monopoly over the mini-game entertainment industry.
If I haven’t made it obviously clear yet, Wordle is not simply just a word game. It provided people with a means of connection throughout the duration of the pandemic and created a community of people that communicated through gray, yellow, and green tiles. And while the acquisition of Wordle by The New York Times is fair, I’ll still feel emotionally robbed when it requires a subscription. So in some sick, cyclical way, ADIEU Wordle, it’s been real.
Technically Speaking is an Opinion culture column used to discuss topics relating to technology, such as pop culture, trends, social media, or other relevant subject matter.
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