By coming together around a common goal, Baldwin notes that research demonstrates how common goals create group cohesion. Having seen increasing numbers of people on social media who discuss Wordle, Baldwin highlights that people are playing with their friends and family, and discussing the experience on private messages while the rest of the world continues solving the puzzle. And it is those little moments of being proud of our accomplishments-even if only due to a successful Wordle play-that are essential to our mental health as we rehabilitate towards a more normal existence this summer.Īssistant Professor of Psychology, Matt Baldwin, notes, “When we experience something together, the feelings get amplified so when we have fun with Wordle, that feeling is magnified when we remember that we are playing with millions of people at the same time.” In simple terms, Wordle challenges your brain, fosters community and even provides a daily hit of dopamine triggered by a sense of personal achievement. So what is it that makes Wordle such a phenomenon? However, fast-forward to a much-changed society in 2022 – and the difference is tangible. Who would have predicted that a game like Wordle would be a global icon before April 2020? It is no co-incidence that an earlier version of the game in 2013 failed to make a dent in popular culture. Its simplicity, in addition to the concept of an attainable challenge, which can be solved in a time-effective manner and shared with family or friends, has proved to be a literal ‘game-changer’. I suggest that the actual inception of such a traditional word game, together with its subsequent popularity, shows how people have recalibrated their tastes during the pandemic. The fact that it is just one single, straightforward daily puzzle is only a small part of its appeal. Since it keeps track of one’s score but does not include any gimmicks, levels, or pay-to-play options, it is arguably more streamlined than crossword or Sudoku puzzles which are printed in physical newspapers. Wordle is a humorous play on the inventor’s own surname, Wardle. “Enjoyed too often,” he explained, “and they lose their charm,” Wardle explained. This is explicitly why there’s only one puzzle per day. In a recent post, Wardle said he wanted Wordle to feel like a croissant, a “delightful snack” that’s enjoyed occasionally. From humble beginnings, with just 90 players in November, it duly accelerated up to over 300,000 by the start of the New Year – and after the rights to the game were bought by the New York Times for an undisclosed seven figure sum at the end of January, it is now played by millions of people across the world on a daily basis. After it proved popular with friends and family, he published it on the web and released it to the general public in October 2021. During lockdown, a software engineer called Josh Wardle created a word game to entertain his wife.
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