Wordle, a word game that was invented in 2022, became wildly popular overnight. Instantly, everyone was involved in the game.

Kobe Digital will discuss Wordle’s fad and provide a UX analysis of the game.

Wordle and Its Derives

Wordle, a word-guessing and prediction game, was created by Josh Wardle. Wordle is a digital game that lives online, which is a departure from most other digital games. You won’t be able to find it in the App Store or Google Play as it is a web-based game, and it’s now moved under the domain of New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html.

Wordle randomly chooses a five-letter word every day. All players worldwide set out to discover the word. Each player has six chances to correctly guess the word.

Wordle will reveal the letters after each shot if they’re in the right places and if they’re involved in the word. The former is indicated by yellow tiles, while the latter is represented by green tiles. It’s as easy as it sounds, it’s that simple!

Wordle is a simple game that has become a huge craze. Wordle is a favorite of many players who are constantly searching for new words. They even make their Wordle versions.

Online, there are at least 768 Wordle-like Games in 149 Languages. The patterns of the original Wordle are used to create new games. These are some of the most popular derivatives:

• Needle (Wordle for mathematical equations).
• Quordle (Wordle with 9 Guesses, 4 Words at a Time)
• Absurdly (Evil Wordle) changes the answer when players get it right.

The language variations include not only those who use Latin/Roman alphabets such as the Swedish version of Ordel but also those who use other languages such as Bopomofo Wordle from China. Wordle is more than just viral, it’s obvious!

What Makes Wordle Addictive

UX Connections learned about the Wordle trend and would like to answer the question of what makes Wordle addictive. UX Connections will use a UX approach to help you understand why Wordle is so addictive, especially when it was created to make it non-addictive.

Because it provides a perfect framework for the discussion, they are using Ryan Hoover’s Hook Model and Nir Eyal.

Wordle’s popularity can be directly linked to its habit-forming effect on users. Wordle is a product that encourages users to incorporate Wordle into their daily lives. It fulfills the need for “triggers” to form a habit.

Wordle has been able to create a lot of relationships triggers due to the ease with which players can share their scores via social media. Social media content can be used to persuade peers and trigger action.

Wordle can also be used to help people with their internal triggers such as boredom.

It also fulfills two essential conditions for actions to occur – motivation and ability. Wordle is accessible via the internet because it’s a game.

The game is accessible to everyone, as it does not require registration or download. Users can start the game as soon as they arrive on the website.

They are also simple to follow. These rules are explained in a popup that takes less than 10 lines. Wordle’s intuitive design features include color selection, animation, and an interface. You don’t need to think too hard to interact with it.

However, solving puzzles is a joy that motivates people to keep going, as well as the competition in their local communities.

When they make fewer guesses than their peers, it gives them a feeling of accomplishment. Motivating people to participate by releasing only one word per day is another way to get motivated. It is valued and worthwhile to play.

A fixed frequency of just one game per day encourages habit formation. Wordle also does a great job of showing each game’s statistics page. Wordle informs players about the effort they put in by revealing their winning percentage, streak, guess distribution, etc.

This encourages players to keep playing because they know how much time and effort they have put in. It is impossible to give up a streak of 10-20 wins.

What Can Be Improved

Wordle isn’t perfect, but it’s getting there. Wordle could do better in this area. UX designers are always looking for inclusiveness. Colored square emojis are used to illustrate the messages that players copy and paste to share their scores.

Although the emojis are beautiful, they do not support text-to-speech. This could be a problem for visually impaired people who rely on text-to-speech when using smartphones. The word selection mechanism can also be more inclusive.

Words that are different in American and British spellings may cause confusion and impact players’ experiences.

Different spellings of words can lead to different guesses. Some players complain that the words chosen are too British and not friendly to them. “bloke” is one of the words that has been criticized.

It is a British term that means “man”, but it might not be familiar to people outside of the country, so they may have failed the game.

Wordle continues to make improvements. Wordle now offers High Contrast Mode for color-blind users. This replaces yellow and green with blue and orange. They just need to go to Settings to turn it on. This can be done in only two steps.

Colorblind people can enjoy the game just like everyone else, without any difficulty.

Review from UX Consultant

Wordle is an easy-to-use, well-designed app. It has been quickly adopted around the world due to its addictive UX and quick onboarding. It taps into a user’s natural competitiveness and encourages them to share their world with others.

This driving force is stronger due to the 24-hour clock; a feature common to BeReal, a globally popular app.

The keyboard’s UI is not as good as it could be. It has the enter button moved to the left, which is against common practice in English mobile keyboards.

This is confusingly the opposite of the Qwordles keyboard layout. This is likely to lead to frustrated users and accidental submissions of words.

This simple app was created using a substantial UX design to make it easy for people to use. It also provides an endorphin boost for many commuters on their morning commutes.

Wordle has rekindled people’s love for word games. Josh has done a great job, even though there are still areas to improve. It wasn’t his intention to create an addictive or challenging game. This might seem contrary to common practice.