It’s all arbitrary and dumb, but they’re addicted
February 4, 2024 2:17 AM Subscribe
These games are critical to the Times’ business strategy in trying to reach users—and ideally, future paying subscribers—beyond its core news product. Of course, the Times is still competing for White House scoops with its traditional print and digital rivals and dispatching correspondents to war zones. But the company is also vying for people’s attention against every app on their home screen. So it’s developed products in recent years to satisfy the lifestyle needs of its audience: cooking, shopping (via what is now known as Wirecutter, acquired in a 2016 deal worth more than $30 million), sports (via The Athletic, the site it acquired in 2022 for $550 million), and audio, building on the success of The Daily with a slew of podcasts ... The products and the journalism coexist under what the Times calls “the bundle,” an offering that has turbocharged the company’s ambitious growth strategy. from Inside The New York Times’ Big Bet on Games [Vanity Fair; ungated]
I used to love doing the NYT crossword puzzle. But I am not giving those people any money.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 4:14 AM on February 4 [16 favorites]
posted by The Manwich Horror at 4:14 AM on February 4 [16 favorites]
Adding a games channel to any website that wanted to become 'sticky' (attracting repeat visitors) was fairly standard practice in the closing days of the dot-com boom, and I speak as a games-channel editor who went in the first round of redundancies after it had become clear that neither of the founders' two paths to revenue (get bought and cash out; go IPO and cash out) was going to happen.
I'm glad that newspapers are understanding the value of puzzles and mental exercises, and the fact that people like doing them and reading about them. Like comic strips and competitions, any acknowledgement of their appeal has always been begrudged by those working on the 'real' parts of the newspaper. I understand this: I trained as a newspaper journalist myself, but these days I'm a game designer and trying to sell a commissioning editor on anything about board games is an exercise in frustration, outside three weeks in December.
posted by Hogshead at 5:15 AM on February 4 [15 favorites]
I'm glad that newspapers are understanding the value of puzzles and mental exercises, and the fact that people like doing them and reading about them. Like comic strips and competitions, any acknowledgement of their appeal has always been begrudged by those working on the 'real' parts of the newspaper. I understand this: I trained as a newspaper journalist myself, but these days I'm a game designer and trying to sell a commissioning editor on anything about board games is an exercise in frustration, outside three weeks in December.
posted by Hogshead at 5:15 AM on February 4 [15 favorites]
90% of the problems that people have with the Times could be solved by paywalling, or better yet just axing, their opinion section. Nothing is a bigger drag on the paper than two pages of bloviating assholes. I have never, ever heard someone say "oh, I just read it for the columnists". When it was all about eyeballs, it made sense, but angry clicks don't translate into subscriptions.
posted by phooky at 5:31 AM on February 4 [34 favorites]
posted by phooky at 5:31 AM on February 4 [34 favorites]
Second the obliteration of opinion columns, those are some terrible people they have. I suppose it's necessary in order to serve as a propaganda mouthpiece for the powers?
posted by nofundy at 5:42 AM on February 4 [4 favorites]
posted by nofundy at 5:42 AM on February 4 [4 favorites]
You can ignore the op-eds.
You cannot ignore the all-embracing obeisance in the reporting to the point of view of the NY Times’ ideal reader - a 55 year old “moderate” private equity partner and his 43-year old “liberal” former PR manager, now stay at home mom, wife.
Seriously, if there’s ever any NYT reporting that makes you angry, just think about well tuned it is either to appeal to both members of that couple or to give them something about which to debate with only mild disagreement for a few minutes before they turn out the lights.
This is also a parsimonious filter for the issues on which the NYT can be conspicuously progressive, and those on which it cannot - does it gore this couple’s ox? Mass immigration doesn’t threaten this couple’s job, neighborhoods or schools, so all for it. A hell of lot more likely to have Israeli friends or family than Palestinian so you know how that goes. Really don’t want to seem racist but also really don't want to be mugged so ambivalent on Alvin Bragg and no-bail policies.
posted by MattD at 6:00 AM on February 4 [20 favorites]
You cannot ignore the all-embracing obeisance in the reporting to the point of view of the NY Times’ ideal reader - a 55 year old “moderate” private equity partner and his 43-year old “liberal” former PR manager, now stay at home mom, wife.
Seriously, if there’s ever any NYT reporting that makes you angry, just think about well tuned it is either to appeal to both members of that couple or to give them something about which to debate with only mild disagreement for a few minutes before they turn out the lights.
This is also a parsimonious filter for the issues on which the NYT can be conspicuously progressive, and those on which it cannot - does it gore this couple’s ox? Mass immigration doesn’t threaten this couple’s job, neighborhoods or schools, so all for it. A hell of lot more likely to have Israeli friends or family than Palestinian so you know how that goes. Really don’t want to seem racist but also really don't want to be mugged so ambivalent on Alvin Bragg and no-bail policies.
posted by MattD at 6:00 AM on February 4 [20 favorites]
I get your frustration with the NYT, but please don't couch it in terms of "here are these people I hate so much".
posted by phooky at 6:48 AM on February 4 [12 favorites]
posted by phooky at 6:48 AM on February 4 [12 favorites]
In my case (I'm trans) it's "here are these people who hate me so much" and I can't ignore them because, on a national level, they're cited as evidence across the country when people are passing anti-trans laws and, on a personal level, my mother who loves me also takes the New York Times very seriously and it makes our generally very good relationship more challenging.
posted by an octopus IRL at 7:34 AM on February 4 [22 favorites]
posted by an octopus IRL at 7:34 AM on February 4 [22 favorites]
My library offers electronic daily subscriptions to the NYT Games and News -- separately. I would be very interested to learn which is more popular.
A few days ago on Bluesky, cartoonist Derf was talking about how newspapers used to devote a lot of space to comic strips. But gradually, as cost-cutting measures, the comics got less and less space, and the strips had to become smaller. The decline of the comic strip tracks neatly against the decline of the newspaper itself. I'm not suggesting that comics are what kept newspapers afloat, but simply that papers have always known that news alone wouldn't hook every reader.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:05 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
A few days ago on Bluesky, cartoonist Derf was talking about how newspapers used to devote a lot of space to comic strips. But gradually, as cost-cutting measures, the comics got less and less space, and the strips had to become smaller. The decline of the comic strip tracks neatly against the decline of the newspaper itself. I'm not suggesting that comics are what kept newspapers afloat, but simply that papers have always known that news alone wouldn't hook every reader.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:05 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
The thing about the NYT's opinion page is that it's not there to draw readers. It's there to provide a platform and funding to noxious people and ideas that the NYT's executives and managers like and want to subject the world to.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:28 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:28 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
I used to love doing the NYT crossword puzzle. But I am not giving those people any money.
I do the puzzles and love them. But yesterday or the day before, there was a longread article about people who thought they were trans when they were young but turned out to be wrong. This was on the same day that my trans and gay 16yo was in Los Angeles filming for a documentary about trans youth by an organization you've likely heard of, and before he left he told me, "I'm just going to tell them that if you and dad hadn't supported my transition early, I'd be dead." He socially transitioned when he was four; he spent two years on puberty blockers, then began testosterone at age 14. He got the best possible gender-affirming care (in the early days we had to travel to a big city to access it) and he still suffers from dysphoria severely enough that he has told me he doesn't think he'll ever have sex.
The day before, I'd read about Canadian province Alberta's new laws making all gender-affirming care for minors illegal.
It's not a neutral choice to do a big article on "kids who were wrong" (It said it was an 18 minutes read, so really a big one) in this climate. I'm not sure what's going to fill the space in my life that Times puzzles do—-one of my ways of relaxing is listening to an audiobook or podcast while doing crosswords from the archives, sometimes for hours) but I do know that the tiny bit of money I give them is better spent elsewhere.
posted by Well I never at 8:32 AM on February 4 [21 favorites]
I do the puzzles and love them. But yesterday or the day before, there was a longread article about people who thought they were trans when they were young but turned out to be wrong. This was on the same day that my trans and gay 16yo was in Los Angeles filming for a documentary about trans youth by an organization you've likely heard of, and before he left he told me, "I'm just going to tell them that if you and dad hadn't supported my transition early, I'd be dead." He socially transitioned when he was four; he spent two years on puberty blockers, then began testosterone at age 14. He got the best possible gender-affirming care (in the early days we had to travel to a big city to access it) and he still suffers from dysphoria severely enough that he has told me he doesn't think he'll ever have sex.
The day before, I'd read about Canadian province Alberta's new laws making all gender-affirming care for minors illegal.
It's not a neutral choice to do a big article on "kids who were wrong" (It said it was an 18 minutes read, so really a big one) in this climate. I'm not sure what's going to fill the space in my life that Times puzzles do—-one of my ways of relaxing is listening to an audiobook or podcast while doing crosswords from the archives, sometimes for hours) but I do know that the tiny bit of money I give them is better spent elsewhere.
posted by Well I never at 8:32 AM on February 4 [21 favorites]
I have a couple of ex-colleagues who work on the NYT Tech Team, and they've mentioned to me that both NYT Cooking and Games are organized under Growth, in case that gives you a hint about where the company sees its future subscribers coming from.
The other new growth channel that they're fleshing out are podcasts with the recent release of the NYT Audio app, and the drive to bring on popular podcast hosts like Ezra Klein and This American Life under their umbrella. Afaik they aren't planning on putting TAL behind a paywall, but I wouldn't be surprised if they pursue other monetization experiments that other podcast media outfits have implemented, like a paid membership model that opens up access to a Discord or to exclusive content. And I could see the podcast arm being the successor to their Op-Ed section.
posted by bl1nk at 8:55 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
The other new growth channel that they're fleshing out are podcasts with the recent release of the NYT Audio app, and the drive to bring on popular podcast hosts like Ezra Klein and This American Life under their umbrella. Afaik they aren't planning on putting TAL behind a paywall, but I wouldn't be surprised if they pursue other monetization experiments that other podcast media outfits have implemented, like a paid membership model that opens up access to a Discord or to exclusive content. And I could see the podcast arm being the successor to their Op-Ed section.
posted by bl1nk at 8:55 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
But yesterday or the day before, there was a longread article about people who thought they were trans when they were young but turned out to be wrong.
As usual, Erin Reed wrote a great response to that embarrassing mess, which deserves to be read far more widely than the original.
posted by angrynerd at 9:10 AM on February 4 [10 favorites]
As usual, Erin Reed wrote a great response to that embarrassing mess, which deserves to be read far more widely than the original.
posted by angrynerd at 9:10 AM on February 4 [10 favorites]
Evan Urquhart also fact-checked that bullshit.
posted by away for regrooving at 9:39 AM on February 4 [5 favorites]
posted by away for regrooving at 9:39 AM on February 4 [5 favorites]
NYT revives Farmville, sends reporters there to find out what the residents--real Americans!--think about Trump.
posted by gimonca at 9:47 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
posted by gimonca at 9:47 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
(fwiw that article was published in the opinion section, and was exactly what I was thinking of when I trolley problemed this thread into the river by suggesting that the opinion section should be axed.)
posted by phooky at 9:49 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
posted by phooky at 9:49 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Lots of people have issues with the NYT crosswords but they're still the standard by which crosswords are judged, for better or worse. I got my streak up to just over 1000 once, and then forgot to do the puzzle on a Monday. It's still one of my daily rituals.
Spelling Bee is fun but I like a puzzle to have a narrative (I don't mean that it tells a story, I mean that solving it is a story - "this section seemed impossible but once I broke into it with this long answer and then made a lucky guess, the crosses helped me finish it"), and Spelling Bee just a word list. My wife and I always get to Genius and then will make an attempt at Queen Bee if it seems reasonable, but just staring at the letters seeing if we can figure out that last word isn't so much fun. Plus the word list is sort of arbitrary. I still gnash my teeth at the memory of triumphantly entering the pangram CARYATID, only to have it rejected.
Wordle got more fun once I stopped worrying about optimizing my score and just started beginning with random words and seeing what would happen. The last week I've been starting with KNISH.
(Apologies if this is a derail from the main topic of this thread.)
posted by dfan at 9:53 AM on February 4 [4 favorites]
Spelling Bee is fun but I like a puzzle to have a narrative (I don't mean that it tells a story, I mean that solving it is a story - "this section seemed impossible but once I broke into it with this long answer and then made a lucky guess, the crosses helped me finish it"), and Spelling Bee just a word list. My wife and I always get to Genius and then will make an attempt at Queen Bee if it seems reasonable, but just staring at the letters seeing if we can figure out that last word isn't so much fun. Plus the word list is sort of arbitrary. I still gnash my teeth at the memory of triumphantly entering the pangram CARYATID, only to have it rejected.
Wordle got more fun once I stopped worrying about optimizing my score and just started beginning with random words and seeing what would happen. The last week I've been starting with KNISH.
(Apologies if this is a derail from the main topic of this thread.)
posted by dfan at 9:53 AM on February 4 [4 favorites]
I don't find this surprising or bad in any way. Since early times, newspapers included illustrations, comic strips, recipes, travel stories, short fiction, fashion, etc to lure people to buy the paper. Sure, some papers were far more "hard news" focused than others, but diversions and lifestyle stuff has always been a big attraction. As a kid starting in the early '80s, I used to read the Chicago papers because of the comics, the articles about entertainment and movies, the TV guide, general interest stuff and happenings around town. But even as a little kid I would usually scan the "news" and then as I got older I read more and more of the news. And there were a vast amounts of newspapers back then.
posted by SoberHighland at 10:33 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
posted by SoberHighland at 10:33 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
Clearly this is going to be a “shit on the editorial direction of the NYT” thread and fair enough but this is easily the smartest solution anybody has come up to fund a newsroom in the 21st century… and also unfortunately unlikely to scale to the little guys.
posted by atoxyl at 11:52 AM on February 4 [4 favorites]
posted by atoxyl at 11:52 AM on February 4 [4 favorites]
Wordle is a much more enjoyable game than defeating a paywall.
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 12:03 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 12:03 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
I just finished a novel set in the 1950s in which the publisher of a New York paper is trying to solve their crashing subscription rates (because they are losing out to TV). Made me wonder if something similar happened with the advent of radio. At any rate, this seems like a pretty smart decision. I just wish a paper I liked more had made it.
posted by rednikki at 12:21 PM on February 4 [3 favorites]
posted by rednikki at 12:21 PM on February 4 [3 favorites]
"a seven-night Times crossword–themed cruise" - there are many, many things in this world.
posted by doctornemo at 4:49 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 4:49 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Thank you so much, angrynerd and away for regrooving, for those links.
posted by Well I never at 7:46 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
posted by Well I never at 7:46 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
Puzzmo is a nice set of that style of games. I find the crossword there to involve very diverse vocabulary and often learn phrases a somewhat disconnected older person wouldn't come across otherwise. Also, Really Bad Chess is good times.
It's owned by Gannett; I'm unsure what they push politically, I have to admit.
posted by ignignokt at 8:57 AM on February 5 [2 favorites]
It's owned by Gannett; I'm unsure what they push politically, I have to admit.
posted by ignignokt at 8:57 AM on February 5 [2 favorites]
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I’m not sure that news, even with the best journalistic and editorial standards, has ever been the biggest draw however. When I was a kid my local newspaper- Scotland’s “Courier” from Dundee- would lead with a front page of classified ads, then the day’s TV schedule, mug shots from recent local weddings, crossword and football on the back and… the world’s news… well people would maybe get there eventually! I think that arrangement was more common back in the day.
posted by rongorongo at 3:04 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]