> NYT essentially just bought the hottest new social network.
No one comes to wordle wanting a social network. It's nice because there's no built in social or ad bs and the results can easily be shared anywhere you want if you want.
No one comes to wordle wanting a social network. It's nice because there's no built in social or ad bs and the results can easily be shared anywhere you want if you want.
Why?
There is objectively nothing that NYT could add to the game to make it more interesting. It can only make it worse.
The original creator was not able to do that due to infrastructure limitations, but surely NYT would have the proper setup to handle that.
All because someone coukd read the source to cheat and wouldn't, idk, just copy paste the squares about in their tweets?
The game is perfect as is, and I’m sad that it will now be used to make money.
yet.
I feel stupid.
Any subsequent value usage must be repurchased. No trading of vowels.
I do. And I'd be surprised if I'm the only one.
Social media is a communication tool. What you’re seeing is evidence that normal human beings share interests and discuss them. That is not automatic evidence that the interest needs to be technologically exploited at the source. That this is not immediately clear is a significant driver behind the most reprehensible parts of the computing industry. I also think you’re overlooking that “I solved it in four! Yay!” is a mild extension of the anecdotes you’re hearing about five minutes and forget (they’re not mutually exclusive). I bet even the engineers who spent the last couple weekends solving for the optimal word are ready to put that bag down, too, and are probably just as strongly in that five minute group.
It already has a Share button that is implemented in the most respectful way possible for a user. Wordle’s backlog is precisely zero items long. Anything you’d do to it to consider social media would make it fundamentally worse. That you think it’s a social network in waiting leaves a metallic taste in my mouth and a bunch of despair for where we are.
This is HN, do you really want to know how that question would be answered?
Isn't that exactly how tiktok was born?
I told my Mom I solved last night's Wordle in two. That's making conversation about a shared interest. It's the reprehensible worst of this industry to pivot that interest into exploiting it at the source simply because it exists. Put succinctly: in no rational world is my having a conversation with someone about Wordle evidence that it needs a Sign in with Facebook button.
It already has a share button, implemented in probably the most respectful way possible. Absolutely nothing needs to be changed. Wordle is perfect user-respecting technology in any way. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that every change you have in mind to improve it will make it significantly worse because you disagree with my assessment.
Weird breakdown choice, again with the infantilizing of millennials. All millenials are adults
It's funny how it spreads... the ease of sharing results is what I think has really driven the popularity.
Anyway, that's a pretty constructed scenario, but it is sorta interesting to think about.
In any case -- fortunately it is NYT, so I bet they'll happily just let it go to a nice stable daily crossword sized population and stick there indefinitely without messing it up. Maybe they can add a 6-wordle for subscribers.
When I said people don't go to wordle for a social network I mean wordle comes to whatever social grouping you already have because it's so simple and easy to share. It's not a social network it's a thing people do socially which is vastly different.
Not for much longer. NYT has to recoup that investment somehow.
I had actually kind of been hoping Wardle would have the same idea and that I would at some point be able to pay a few dollars a year for an account I could sign into to keep my Wordle career in sync. It looks like that account will now be an NYT account, and while it won't make me a subscriber by itself, it's one more benefit to weigh in potentially subscribing at some point.
The business model is that you get the latest puzzle for free and you can pay a subscription to get access to old ones. Not sure how much money they make, but I've paid more to them than most apps in the store.
Though when I first tried to find it a couple weeks ago, Wordle was not the top result for "Wordle". Result 3 or 4 IIRC. But I'd expect NYT can fix that.
This is better PR than a media goliath ripping off the success of the little guy.
[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/wordlegame/comments/rxeg1f/you_can_...
Are you sure? I just tried to see today's crossword from a non-logged-in browser, and it said that I had to be subscribed.
And for the NYT, a company that made a $55M profit last quarter, it's probably a good bet.
Could see there being a daily free Wordle and then a paid app with a few more variants/archives.
And BTW I'm using Chrome with uBlock Origin enabled here.
https://i.imgur.com/dw244XL.png
You can't actually complete the game without paying. I think it's a pretty dark pattern - get the player invested, then block their progress.