When The New York Times acquired the viral online word-guessing game Wordle in January, many of its devoted players were not happy. They feared that the game would go behind a paywall even as NYT said it would initially remain free for existing and new players.
Now, Wordle players are complaining on Twitter that the game has become tougher since its acquisition.
“It must be a coincidence, but the NY Times puzzles are hard and suddenly Wordle has questionable words,” Writer Anna Spargo-Ryan tweeted.
Another Wordle player, author Michelle Elma, said: “The words seem a little harder since the move to NYT … or maybe I am imagining it?”
Journalist Rob O’ Hanrahan also suggested that NYT had made Wordle more difficult. “The New York Times deciding that everyone's day needed a *little* more stress by upping the Wordle stakes,” he tweeted.
The New York Times has denied making any changes to Wordle. “Nothing has changed about the game play,” the newspaper’s Communications Director Jordan Cohen told The Guardian.
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In language specialist Tiger Webb’s view, it cannot be said with certainty that Wordle has become more difficult.
“It could be harder, they could have changed something, we don’t know,” he told The Guardian. “But even if they haven’t changed anything … open a dictionary at a random page and you will find a five-letter word in English you don’t know.”
Some Wordle players have also flagged that the game showed two different answers as correct.
Meanwhile, some offensive and obscure words are being removed from the game, news agency AFP reported.
"We are updating the word list over time to remove obscure words to keep the puzzle accessible to more people, as well as insensitive or offensive words," Cohen, the newspaper's spokesperson, told AFP.
Wordle, a viral sensation, has been created by Josh Wardle, a British software engineer living in the US. He had originally made the game for his partner Palak Shah, who loves word games.
Wardle launched the game online in October, and it quickly gained popularity across the world. In January, NYT acquired it for an undisclosed amount.
(With inputs from AFP)
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