Oh, may I, Wordle?
As I weigh the pros and cons of continuing to make Wordle part of my day, its “intro page” is almost as high on my list of cons as the legal saber-rattling connected to it.
Now, I know some people in the puzzle community love streaks. They love to solve consistently every day for a hundred days, even a thousand, and to be reminded of that every time they play. I mean no disrespect to those who enjoy games in that way.
However, I do think they’re a minority in the solving community. And I don’t belong to it. I’ll often miss a day here and there because I’m distracted or running late or just solving something else. After three years of play, my longest solving streak on Wordle was 98 days. Often, I don’t even get into the double digits.
Now, I am the kind of online consumer who’d be interested in “catching up” on days that I missed. But Wordle, like a lot of online businesses, values “engagement” over quality of service. Even though archiving all the Games puzzles would be easy, only the crosswords and “Spelling Bee” puzzles offer any archive. The higher-ups at the New York Times don’t want merely happy users; they want addicted users, the kind who unironically call themselves “Wordlers.”
(Guys, there’s something a little desperate about you greeting me with that term. It’s like if I logged into Facebook and saw “Hello, Zuckerhead!” Oh, and have you heard of commas?)
But back to the streak issue. I’m okay with the fact that Wordle shows players their stats after they play. Here are mine:
But most Wordle players are not more interested in looking at their stats than they are in—wait for it—actually playing Wordle. And those of us who do play irregularly don’t like to be graded on our consistency before we start.
Wordle is a neat game, but the internet is full of neat games. Really, there are only a few reasons I’ve stuck with it. One, it’s a shared experience; I know my mom, my sister-in-law, and my friends might ask me about it in conversation. Two, it’s quick. Three, inertia. And four…I’m good. I’ve played hundreds of times and haven’t missed an answer in years. That’s a nice little pick-me-up as I start my day.
(If I did miss an answer, though, I wouldn’t want Wordle to rub my nose in it any more than I want it to greet me with “Hey there, 1-day streak!”)
There’s perhaps one more reason to hang around. I know the NYT creative team—either as friendly acquaintances or as people I follow—well enough to know that they’re motivated by the pursuit of excellence, not “engagement.”
Our parasocial relationships formed through art are generally with artists, not companies. I watched Oppenheimer because I knew Christopher Nolan and the cast would tell me a good and accurate story—not because I wanted to guarantee Universal Pictures executives got their yearly bonuses. I may follow the output of companies like Marvel, but I’d stop if Marvel stopped hiring talented people. (I’ve skipped most of their TV output lately.)
So maybe I can stick with Wordle because editor Tracy Bennett has little to do with the legal department or with the condescending interface. Before I decide to do that, though, I want to understand what it is I’m shrugging off. The NYT legal team’s recent actions could have harmed puzzling in general, but how much did they? What’s the damage?
Just what is it that I’d be choosing to forgive, or forget?
(Continued tomorrow.)