Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizing it?

Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by palijer on Thursday January 13, 2022 @02:46AM (#29917908)

Why is it stupid to not do any monetization?

Josh built a fun game for his partner, and now a lot more people are enjoying it.

As long as it isn't horrendous in hosting costs, I'd say that is already a huge return on the project. Giving some great entertainment to folks is a win already in itself.

Using your skills to the benefit of your community (global in this case) is one of the best things you can do. You don't need to profit off it as well to make it an intelligent project.

It's not stupid to skip monetization.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by slg on Thursday January 13, 2022 @03:12AM (#29918068)

Because Josh could potentially monetize this project and allow both him and his partner to spend the rest of their lives doing nothing but making these fun projects for each other, working to benefit the global community, or whatever else they would want to do having achieved financial independence.

I also don't agree with the idea that any form of monetization is inherently hostile towards players. The game takes up roughly 500px by 800px on a page that is receiving millions of hits a day. You can throw an ad on that page and barely impact the user experience while pulling in 4 or 5 figures per day. There is money to be made there without resorting to adding microtransactions or something actively hostile to users.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by _moof on Thursday January 13, 2022 @08:05AM (#29920326)

> the rest of their lives

I have dramatically underestimated the amount of revenue one can get from serving ads on a modestly popular game that everyone will have forgotten in a month's time.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by MattRix on Thursday January 13, 2022 @08:25AM (#29920473)

It is more than “modestly” popular. I don’t know the exact users counts but I’m he could make well over a million dollars even if the game’s popularity only lasts a month… though I’m willing to bet it stays popular for much longer than that, seeing how it is becoming a daily habit/ritual for so many people.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by sangnoir on Thursday January 13, 2022 @05:08PM (#29927604)

> I’m willing to bet it stays popular for much longer than that, seeing how it is becoming a daily habit/ritual for so many people.

And therein lies the contradiction - it has become a daily ritual because it doesn't demand continual "engagement" or trick people into becoming addicted: 2 things that will increase monetizability.

My thoughts are it's commendable for someone to share their delightful creation with the world for free. Something pure, with no dark patterns or gray areas. It is a breath of fresh air, and legitimately makes the world a better place for countless people. Thanks Josh!

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by tlrobinson on Thursday January 13, 2022 @03:16AM (#29918088)

I agree with most of what you said, but I’d consider ads to be just as hostile to users.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by VSerge on Thursday January 13, 2022 @04:17AM (#29918544)

Something good for users would be access to previous worlde puzzles, it provides added content and fun to users, and sustains creation. Pricing doesn't have to be exploitative either.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by johannes1234321 on Thursday January 13, 2022 @09:26AM (#29921042)

however then he has customers. And customer's demands can be annoying to deal with. Outcry from mere users who don't pay anything can be ignored.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by TigeriusKirk on Thursday January 13, 2022 @12:13PM (#29923412)

One line at the top.

"Wordle, brought to you by Nike" or whoever.

A ton of money and no burden for the users at all.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by lostlogin on Thursday January 13, 2022 @12:50PM (#29924023)

That really sounds crass and gross. I genuinely dislike the idea and might not play.

As a changes, I’d like regionalisation. ‘Favour’ was the word a day or 2 ago. That’s not the spelling where I am.

In return I’d pay up front if requested, a one off or small subscription.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by thesmok on Friday January 14, 2022 @02:50AM (#29931665)

All words in Wordle are 5 letters. Are you sure it was "favour"?

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by lostlogin on Saturday January 15, 2022 @09:53PM (#29952808)

I put it the worst way possible, sorry.‘Favor’ as already noted.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by nerdite on Friday January 14, 2022 @11:36AM (#29936652)

It was favor. The ‘u’ is the alternate spelling.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by slg on Thursday January 13, 2022 @04:54AM (#29918868)

Can you explain why replacing whitespace with a static banner ad is user hostile? I simply don't understand how someone can view that as on the same level as something like microtransactions.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by michaelt on Thursday January 13, 2022 @06:06AM (#29919359)

The moment you add advertising, you need to welcome a bunch of tracking and spying on users, an unavoidable cookie consent popover, a huge network of unchecked 'partners' any of whom can serve the latest browser exploits to your users, and the ads will be tasteless - scams, malware, and grinning mouths full of rotten teeth.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by true_religion on Thursday January 13, 2022 @07:27AM (#29920016)

You don’t have to do any of that. You can sell advertising directly to companies, and moderate all content before it’s displayed to a user.

A lot of people don’t like that because it takes away from your true focus: content creation or software development.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by slg on Thursday January 13, 2022 @11:32AM (#29922696)

None of this is a requirement of advertising. Adsense isn’t the only form of internet advertising. There is a reason I said a static banner ad. It can be as simple as a native HTML anchor element with an image inside.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by TigeriusKirk on Thursday January 13, 2022 @12:14PM (#29923423)

If you do anything badly it will suck. Don't do it badly.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by marssaxman on Friday January 14, 2022 @11:43AM (#29936774)

Doing it not-badly would take time and energy; likely more of each than it took to create the game.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by Zababa on Thursday January 13, 2022 @04:21PM (#29927048)

Here, I'll try to explain to you why (this message was brough to you by pierce and pierce aquisitions) replacing whitespace with a static banner ad is user hostile. It distracts (feeling too distracted? Try the new chrome extension distractionBlockr that will block all the distractions so you can focus on your work!) from the content.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by slg on Thursday January 13, 2022 @08:20PM (#29929409)

You aren't replacing whitespace there. You are inserting an ad in the middle of your content. You also aren't making the ad visually distinctive from the comment. If there was an ad at the end of your comment and it was all in italics, would that be distracting or would it be easily ignored?

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by Zababa on Friday January 14, 2022 @04:02AM (#29932171)

Considering most ads are more visually striking than the content they're being put in, I think putting the ads in the middle of the content itself is a good way to simulate that on a text-only website like hacker news. Also, ads are often on the top or at the side, not at the bottom. But let's try it and find out. Edit: I think this is still distracting, but that may be because italics is often used for emphasis on HN. I wouldn't call it very distracting though. It's a slight annoyance. But it does make things a bit worse.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by tlrobinson on Monday January 17, 2022 @04:37PM (#29971947)

One way to look at it: advertisements are trying to influence your thoughts and behavior. At least micro-transactions are (or can be) a simple and honest exchange of money for a service.

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Re:Ask HN: What do you think of the Wordle guy not monetizin... by lostlogin on Thursday January 13, 2022 @12:48PM (#29923971)

… or the dev could do what they like, which is the entire point. Taking a less beaten path is much more interesting.

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