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Journalism of Courage
Wordle was acquired by publication New York Times earlier this month. While the move met a lot of controversy, NYT assured players that the gameplay of the viral puzzle will not change in addition to saying that the game will remain free at least initially. But as we had noted, there were some subtle changes, starting with the URL, the font, etc. However, a new report by The Verge suggests that NYT has reportedly changed Wordle’s solutions.
According to the report, the NYT version of the game will now remain out of sync with the original powerlanguage version of the game. This effectively means there are two parallel versions of the game now, complete with different solutions.
What does this mean?
Wordle has a fixed list of solutions for the future. This means all Wordle puzzles for the next few weeks or even months can be checked right now. However, NYT has altered the list from the original.
How does this affect the gameplay?
In a game about guessing the right word in six chances, how you strategically plan those six guesses is a major factor. One strategy is to eliminate words that have already passed in previous days’ puzzles. However, with the list of solutions changed, this can no longer be used by players anymore.
While it may not affect the realistic game a lot in terms of how you strategise your guesses, it still counts as a gameplay change, something NYT had assured players would not happen. Many vulgar words have also been removed from the game and will no longer be able to register as successful guesses.
Two different Wordle games
The change apparently goes live from Wordle 241 and will affect players who play the new NYT version of the puzzle game. Those who use unofficial means to play a cached copy of the original Wordle game will continue to follow the older list.
The move could be a push by NYT to nudge players to play their version of Wordle. Sharing the Wordle score is such a big aspect of the puzzle game and also what has contributed to the viral interest around this game. But different players playing different versions with different daily solutions makes little sense. A large part of the fun with Wordle was that players would compete to guess the same word everyday. The latest move by NYT takes that away.
