Wordle hint: Why using online clues is cheating and epitomises everything that's wrong with world

Using hints to solve Wordle is a prime example of a widespread societal malaise in which people like to think they are good at something when they are not

During the Covid pandemic, Josh Wardle did a beautiful thing. He invented a word game for his partner and called it Wordle. In the years since, it has become a global sensation.

It is a simple game with contestants given six chances to guess a five-letter word. Each time an incorrect guess is made, you discover which letters in your word are part of the answer, which are not and which are in the wrong place. It is not designed to be a crossword.

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However, if you go online, you can find plenty of clues and hints, which regularly ‘trend’ on Google in Scotland, and you can also find the answer itself. It’s just a fun game, nothing to get stressed about, so many will think this doesn’t really matter.

Here’s why I disagree.

‘Winning’ at Wordle but not in life

Firstly, it really is very odd behaviour for anyone to Google the answer. Those who do this are basically turning themselves into a conduit between computer programs. They might as well write a piece of software to do it automatically, so they can ‘win’ at Wordle every day without ever actually doing it. (There is no other reason to Google the word as if you guess wrong six times, Wordle tells you the answer.)

The use of ‘hints’ is also problematic. Many people compete with their friends to see who can maintain the longest winning streak. How many of those looking for a ‘hint’ are doing so with this in mind? It feels like they are too embarrassed to unambiguously cheat by Googling the answer, but still want to ‘win’ without actually completing the set task.

Wordle is an online word-guessing game. It's not supposed to be a crosswordWordle is an online word-guessing game. It's not supposed to be a crossword
Wordle is an online word-guessing game. It's not supposed to be a crossword | AFP via Getty Images

Demanding ‘takebacks’ in chess

Something similar can be seen in the game of chess. When playing online, at least one leading website offers a ‘takeback’ function, which you can use to request to replay a move after a misclick, a mistake, or because you’ve belatedly spotted a better choice. Occasionally, players get angry if it is denied, as if they feel entitled to it.

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In theory, a player who always allowed takebacks would have a chess rating much lower than their actual one, while the fortunate soul whose takebacks were always accepted would soar to the upper echelons of the game. In either situation, the players’ ratings would be at odds with reality, potentially giving them a false sense of their ability.

Interestingly, in former world chess champion Magnus Carlsen’s ‘Play Magnus’ app, while players can ‘undo’ a move, they are then not able to earn ‘brain power’ from that game. I’ve never worked out what ‘brain power’ does but it feels like Carlsen is trying to make a point.

A real victory

The app also records that he beat his father “for the first time” at the age of nine, when he also started training with a former Norwegian junior champion. They must have played many games before that, so the father of one of the world’s best-ever chess players clearly did not believe in letting his young son win.

Instead, the chess prodigy had to earn his ‘brain power’. His father made him persevere for a victory that was actually real and meant so much that he remembered it when, years later, a chess app was created with his name on it. (I’m not sure whether this is good parenting or not.)

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I realise it doesn’t matter at all if an individual wins or loses a chess game or completes Wordle with a bit of online help. The problem occurs when it reaches a societal level – like when so many people are doing it that it regularly trends on Google...

Normalising deception

Games can teach us an array of valuable life lessons: how to win and lose gracefully, why problems that seem unsolvable can often be solved if we look at them a different way, and why it’s important not to give up when all seems lost.

However, they can also teach us negative ones: how to crow about victories, humiliate opponents, and, regrettably, how to cheat. Mass cheating at Wordle may seem like a small thing, but it is normalising a form of deception that may encourage students, for example, to use AI to write their essays. Why strive to do something difficult if you can just Google it? Furthermore, it helps normalise self-deception, as people downplay the role of hints and takebacks in their supposed success in their own minds.

As well as being a factor in persuading people to cheat in life, it also seems to me to be a good example of a wider societal malaise. Conspiracy theorists are divorced from reality because they deceive themselves into thinking they know something that they do not.

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Amateur detectives, who appear particularly interested in high-profile missing person cases, imagine themselves to be better than the actual experts, the police, and can end up causing unnecessary distress to innocent people.

‘Enough of experts’

In politics, supporters of populist causes often seem to adopt a bloody-minded approach when faced with evidence that contradicts their views, rather than responding with their own arguments. They simply ‘know’ better. This is still best summed up by Michael Gove’s infamous remark that “the people in this country have had enough of experts...” in the run-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum.

You may think it’s a stretch to connect this to using Wordle hints, but societal forces are extraordinarily powerful. Just look at all the appalling things humans have gone along with in the past because it was just ‘part of ordinary life’ – institutionalised slavery being a prime example.

The values that shape these forces are constantly shifting and affected by us all. So if we want to push them ever so slightly in the right direction, we can take a stand today – and play Josh Wardle’s wonderfully simple game in the way he intended. Best of luck!

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