What is a simple, collaborative game that online community members would want to play with each other?
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Hi Everyone,
I'm wondering if there is (or could be invented) a game which is?both fun to play AND collaborative.? This would be a game that could help build a sense of community inside an online community (just like the F4C-Response community we all belong to?here on this email list).
Many people have probably?heard about the online word game called Wordle (recently bought by the NY Times) where a player will try to figure out a 5-letter word with six or fewer?guesses.? Here's an ?which?explains some?of the?game dynamics that make it?popular.? I've copied some of the key quotes at the far bottom of this email.? Here's one key quote from the article: "Wordle isn't just a word game, it's a conversation starter and a chance to show off on social media. That's why it's going viral."?
With Wordle, all players are figuring out a solution to a challenge individually and then they can share their results.? It's definitely fun and lets people brag on social media "Look how fast I solved this one."? I think that there is a significant amount of "look at me" / competitiveness when sharing the results, and although some of that is healthy, it's not (in my opinion) the best dynamic to promote within an online community that is intended to be collaborative.? So I am wondering if there is or could be something more collaborative, for example everyone in an online community contributing only part of the solution of a shared challenge.
I'll offer one example of a collaborative game that seems to meet these criteria.? It is based on Wordle, but if you suggest a game, it definitely does not have to be based on Wordle.
My suggestion would be to have a full, regular sentence with about 10 words, each of which is its own Wordle puzzle.? Any one community member would be allowed to solve a maximum of one of these words each day.? When all words are solved, then the sentence is solved.? A new sentence would be released once per day if the previous sentence was already solved.? I think this changes the dynamic from "look at me" to "look how I solved this word for the community".??
Does anyone have feedback on this idea or other game suggestions?
Thank you! Lucas Cioffi
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Quotes from the?
It's just a word game. But it's super popular: Over 300,000 people play it daily,?according to The New York Times. That popularity may sound perplexing, but there are a few tiny details that have resulted in everyone going absolutely bonkers for it.
? There's only one puzzle per day:?This creates a certain level of stakes. You only get one shot at the Wordle. If you mess up, you have to wait until tomorrow to get a brand new puzzle.?
? Everyone is playing the exact same puzzle:?This is crucial, as it makes it easier to ping your buddy and chat about the day's puzzle. "Today's was tough!" "How did you get on?" "Did you get it?"? Which takes us to the next point...
? It's easy to share your results:?Once you've successfully or unsuccessfully done the puzzle for the day, you're invited to share your Wordle journey for the day. If you tweet the image, it looks like this...
Note that the word and letters you chose are obscured. All that's shown is your journey toward the word in a series of yellow, green and gray boxes.It's very compelling. If you get it easily, maybe in the second or third try, there's a gloating element whereby you?must?show your followers how smart you are and share.If you get it by the skin of your teeth in the sixth go, that's also a cool story. But most importantly, the puzzle itself isn't spoiled.?
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Lucas Cioffi