New York Times Appears To Have Changed Wordle Despite Stating Otherwise

When New York Times announced the acquisition of the online word game Wordle, the publication promised fans that it would not alter any aspects of the game. However, despite its claims, it seems as if Wordle has faced some new changes.

The Guardian journalist Alex Hern took to Twitter to make note of the alterations that she noticed on the game. After In a statement to The Guardian, NYT officially said that “nothing has changed about the gameplay.” Hern states otherwise in her thread on Twitter, “Literally one day ago, the NYT denied in a statement to the Guardian that it had made any changes to the gameplay of wordle. At that point it had already in fact substantially altered the list of acceptable words; today, it’s edited the actual answer itself.”

Recent reports have indicated that the publication has omitted offensive language and gendered slurs that were originally allowed to be inputted into Wordle. This was confirmed in a statement to Polygon where an NYT representative said, “Offensive words will always be omitted from consideration. As we have just started Wordle’s transition to The Times website, we are still in the process of removing those words from the game play.” Words including “bitch,” “whore,” and “sluts” have been removed and banned from the game. If a player tries to input these words, the terms are met with a “not in word list” alert. When NYT acquired the game created by Josh Wardle, the publication stated that the game will remain free for new and existing players for the time being.

Literally one day ago, the NYT denied in a statement to the Guardian that it had made any changes to the gameplay of wordle. At that point it had already in fact substantially altered the list of acceptable words; today, it’s edited the actual answer itself. pic.twitter.com/aGnKJsksY5

— wine time fridays (@alexhern) February 15, 2022

A lot of people are asking: you can compare the code of the original worldle (https://t.co/IaIu9AjGy9) and the NYT wordle and literally see the changes they have made, editing both the wordlist and the answer list to remove words. Today’s NYT answer will be tomorrow’s Wordle.

— wine time fridays (@alexhern) February 15, 2022

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