Going viral in the age of the digital is nothing new but taking personal experiences along that route of coveted craze perhaps would mean pursuing it a bit too far to be real. Or that’s what at least some of us think as we choose to carefully draw the lines between the real and the technological. But what do you make of a phenomenon as essentially personal in its entailing but one that has gone to amass substantial fame without in any way intruding upon that delicate ground of privacy, neither of its ‘owner’ nor of the users? The apparent rosy reality of it all might sound too good an encounter to be true but that’s exactly the whole truth determining this simple experience developed out of personal interests, taking over the world in profound assertion if its very basic premise.
Wordle, the latest obsession on the internet and yet one that is not obsessive enough to be disruptive, is what has made the year of 2022 interestingly already, taken aback by own witness to the meteoric rise in popularity over the course of a couple of months since it release sometime only as recently as last October. An online word game playable on a daily basis, Wordle needs you to correctly guess a five letter word each day with of course hints to guide you through this seemingly simple maze of the lettered. But the maze that it still is, Wordle reveals itself as more tricky a interpretation of what it manifests as having therefore players across the world wide web hooked to its play out across addictive indeed realms. The simplicity of Wordle though is what strives to make it an intriguing game needed to be conquered across six chances, offering itself as challenging enough a proposition to develop by leaps and bounds- evolving from a mere 90 daily November users to 2 million enthusiasts almost half way into January. Its augmented complications in sophisticated simplicity apart, Wordle has also been able to work out its wonder on the sheer dint of ‘merit’- that is to say, with the monetising and data pilfering traits of the commercial not having managed to find their way yet into this grid of brain racking dimensions.
This rather ethical pursuit to which Wordle still is committed despite bearing more than enough potential to effectively establish itself as a ploy of the profitable, as is the case more often than not through multiple explorations across the realm of the digital, and specially with such surge in popularity catering to this ‘young’ enough game, stems though of its origin rooted in personal pursuance of enjoyment. Developed by New York programmer Josh Wardle for his puzzle loving partner as yet another of the numerous tactics to effectively offset- if not beat- the blues of the coronavirus induced crisis, and happily played out by them and their relatives, Wordle carries across its every aspect at least a bit of this personal touch, whether it be its very emergence or even as the basis of its name that really is a play on Josh’s Wardle surname. What’s more, Wordle continues to be not any more exclusive to its creator than to any other players of it retaining therefore the excitement in all its content that does not wipe away chunks of invaluable time from the real lives of its players nor eats up on the forever pressed for space memory of your device. As a game that is completely web based, which makes it available for play only on its website and that too just once per day, as also free from the clutter of such features trying to eke out gains of its development, Wordle is a game that is as basic as it can get. Designed exclusively for the purpose of personal entertainment and standing still true to this specification even with its foray into the public sphere is this engaging pursuit in enjoyment as also in exertion that explains the craze that has today come to be synonymous with this exciting indeed dive into the world of the five lettered.
Part of the appeal of Wordle undeniably lies in its accessibility but the other part for sure dwells in its endowing of the particular sense of achievement upon its many millions of players. Wordle’s assertion of its singularity sets the premise for it to unfold as a resource of scarce leanings, that which drives its craze in being a calling for more while delivering the pride of a task accomplished every single day, having its players returning to take on on yet another challenge and in the very calming knowledge of not yielding to the inescapable trap of it, because it simply doesn’t have any.
Source: The Tab
No less remarkable has been the essence of Wordle, whether in intention or otherwise, of it being more ‘real’ a game across the world of the virtual. Real not in the sense of what one would expect of being all practical and physical and stuff but more in harkening to those times of the past when similar such plays offered the scope for the grey matter of our brains to experience true utility in. And despite all its catering to enjoyment, Wordle still offers itself as as dignified a digging into the intellect of its players, spurring therefore interest of it across such avenues that incorporate the working of mathematical principles and such academic theories of diverse stemming. In such exploration of the familiar, even when being technical but not overtly so as well, Wordle perhaps has managed to crack the code for success to embark upon its simple way in its own sweet time, that in this particular case is even sweeter with the strikingly short duration it took to establish global prominence. Interestingly though, even in shunning such ploys of the digital that characterise the forays of it as being leaning towards the ideals of marketing, Wordle though allows its many players the option to share their scores on social media, through cute emoji boards for enhanced effect, effectively feeding therefore into that gargantuan appetite for validation that is an aggravated exploration of the digital world that we have come to reside. It perhaps is this parallel working out of the tricks of the trade across its engrossingly challenging play without confirming yet to being the business in minting that is what has made Wordle the most worded phenomenon of the world today.
