Officially released in November 2021,Wordlewas an unassuming word guessing game developed by Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle. It gained very little traction initially, but, by January 2022,Wordlehad become a worldwide sensation. Such was its fame thatThe New York Timesbought it for a seven-figure sum, but the news outlet’s takeover has brought with it controversy regarding the censorship of offensive language.
Some have taken issue with the implementation of ad tracking in the game’s mobile version, while others have argued that the difficulty of the game seems to have increased sinceThe New York Time’s acquisition in early February. However, the most prominent talking point stems from theinconsistent censorship of guessable words and terms inWordle.
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In a post on theWordlesubreddit, u/Keeqsie took issue with the fact that the word “slave” was removed from the guessable words list, but “nazis” was apparently deemed appropriate enough to remain. Responders to the thread also pointed out that, while a common slang word for female genitalia has been removed, another crass one still remains. One might only expect to find some of these words used onthe unofficial NSFWWordleadaptationLewdle, but their haphazard removal still strikes many as odd.
Reddit user u/pedanticowl offered an interesting explanation for what seems like completely random censorship.Wordlefilters guesses through two lists, one comprised of words that are possible answers, and another comprised of words that are never intended as answers but remain guessable. When removing controversial terms from the site,The New York Times’ software engineers neglected to switch them from the list of potential answers to the list of words that won’t be answers but can still be played. Add to this the fact thatsome users are given different daily answers based on the version ofWordlethey’re playing, and the result is a cause for great confusion amongWordleplayers.
Ultimately, it doesn’t seem as ifThe New York Timesis trying to make a troubling political statement by banning certain words and keeping others. Rather, it seems that the methods for censoring these words, if Reddit’sWordlegurus are to be believed, were simply unintuitive. From an unlikely resolution to hostage situations to avexing puzzle for scientists looking to compile a list of optimalWordleguesses, the game is a big part of internet culture at the moment. However, as is the case with all things on the internet, interest isn’t bound to last forever, and it could be thatThe New York Timeshasn’t bothered with implementing any long-term upkeep solutions.
