Wordle - Why do we care so much?

Wordle. The five letter word game that has changed many a morning routine, including my own

It has become such an intrinsic part of our lives that we wonder what we did before? How many of us would wake up in the morning and decide to do a crossword and then plaster it over social media? Most probably a very, very small number of us; however, now I can guarantee that at least every other person is part of a WhatsApp or Facebook group that is purely there to show off their Wordle successes...Guilty.

Also can we just discuss the hypocrisy of its name? Wordle is six letters... not five. Shameful.

So let's dive in and discover why we care so much about Wordle.

Rise to Fame

What is rather sweet is that the entire existence of Wordle is out of love. Software Engineer, Josh Wardle (oh the name makes sense...) created the game as a gift to his partner Palak Shah, a lover of word puzzles. What's truly fascinating is the simplicity of the game itself (if you haven't played it yet, good on you you rebel) solely being composed of a 6x5 grid of squares that change colour. It only makes you question, how on earth has this become so necessary to us, and we start by admiring the humble beginnings of this grid game.

Its launch was only in October 2021, and by November they racked up a WHOPPING 90 players. Jokes on us though, because it only went and made everyone addicted... I'm talking 300,000 players in January and at least a million as of today!

This trendy teaser became so popular that by late January, the big boys over at the New York Times bought Wordle for $1 million. Now whilst it's great that Wardle got his due, people have found yet another reason to be annoyed. The NYT's Wordle has began to receive backlash as being too niche with their answers, and I mean, simplicity was the bread and butter to its success, no?

Brains Behind it All

Now that we've established Wordle's short, yet impressive history, here comes the fascinating psychology behind why we're obsessed with Wordle.

Initially, with its limitation of a daily game, Wordle demonstrates like-ability by allowing us not to overindulge and therefore, not get?bored with it. Ultimately, while the idea of it bringing us all together to share intellectual challenges, may sound flattering, it's actually the polar opposite of Wordle's popularity. Wordle reveals just how competitive and insecure we are and that it's really not about sharing experiences but rather trying to feel superior to others.

"it's about feeling superior to others"

So even if there are some that choose not to post their results, the game remains competitive in that these people still compare their own results with themselves or even with the results of others online and regardless of your social output, you still compare, and it's these comparisons that make us want to play again and again (and again).

Therefore, both outcomes encourage us and we are hooked for pretty bad reasons. Wordle's appeal is not that it brings us all closer together. Rather, it manipulates our deepest insecurities.

Psychologically, as we all know, we receive dopamine when we see our posts gets likes. Each little heart not only lights up our notifications but also the primary dopamine pathways of our brains. Furthermore, research has shown that likes on our socials are also seen as a numeric representation of social acceptance (Rosenthal-von der Pütten et al., 2019).

Conclusion

Well, I guess that about sums it up. Wordle is cruel mistress who cannot be to blame for our love and dedication to her. We love to show off, and when we don't, we simply love to compare

And whilst we all agree that Wordle is a square-faced genius, we wouldn't want it any other way!