The Flappy Bird

8/12/2019 The Flappy Bird

1/7

THE FLAPPY BIRD FIASCO

"People prefer imperfect things," the creator of theincredibly popular, loved, hated and now-notoriousFlappy Bird, Dong Nguyen, musedoverTwitterlast March, long before most anyone had everheard of him or played his game. He was stating why hethought he'd be okay launching a video game that includedsome bugs. "They need something they can comment as aconstructive feedback."P

Nguyen has received ample feedback over the last severalweeks aboutFlappy Bird, his maddeningly difficult gameabout flying a yellow bird between a series of verticalgreen pipes. Some of the feedback has been positive, someof it brutal, some of it from happy gamers, some fromangry gamerssome of it from from gamers so infuriatedby the difficult yet charmingFlappy Bird that in aroundabout way they'd seemingly come to love it. Some ofit's come from the press, including one regrettable piecefromKotaku. I'll get to that, but, first, more aboutNguyen's journey.P

For a time earlier this year, the Hanoi-based Nguyenmerrily retweeted a lot of the feedback he got. He wasseemingly in on his own joke that his free game was sodifficult that it drove some of its players up the wall.P

"Dear creator of Flappy Bird," one person Tweeted at himin late January as the game was rocketing to the top of the

iTunes charts, "I hate you. Go die in a hole."P

"Sorry but I won't :-)," he replied.P

"I hate you and your stupid fucking game!" another wrote,around the same time. "I mean I hit one feather on a pipeand die! How realistic is that?!?"1P

"Please don't expect realistic in games," Nguyen replied,"Beside, I think my games are not for everybody."P

"As you created flappy bird," someone wrote, "can youmake me win?"P

"No, I cannot," he answered. "It's just a game. Take care ofyourself first. I don't make game to ruin people lives."P

A couple of days later, someone asked him, "How manydeath threats do you get a day?"P

"Few hundreds," he answered.P
http://kotaku.com/the-flappy-bird-fiasco-1519938266https://twitter.com/dongatoryhttps://twitter.com/dongatoryhttps://twitter.com/dongatoryhttps://twitter.com/dongatoryhttp://kotaku.com/1519947893http://kotaku.com/1519947893https://twitter.com/dongatoryhttps://twitter.com/dongatoryhttp://kotaku.com/the-flappy-bird-fiasco-1519938266


2/7

Since late January, Nguyen has replied to dozens ofgamers day after day, addressing bugs, explaining thegame's medal system, seemingly laughing off the angryand/or mock-angry Tweets sent his way, seeming to takehis success in good stride.P

F lappy Bir dis Gone

Flappy Bird is officially no more. True to the word of thegame's creator, Dong Nguyen, the app is gone from bothGoogle Play and the iTunes App ReadBut this weekend, as the success ofFlappy Bird seemed tocast more of a pall over Nguyen, hepulled his gamefromthe iOS and Android stores. P

"I cannot take this anymore," he wrote on Twitter.P

It's not clear what the "this" is. It might have simply beenthe high volume of attention he was getting that he

seemed compelled to reply to. It might have beenblowback he was getting from people who were suspiciousabout howFlappy Bird and other games he has made,released in May of 2013, suddenly shot up in popularityaround the same time late last year. It might have beenattacks on him due to the game's art style, that lastcategory of which my own outlet regrettably contributed towith a ham-fisted article last week about Nguyen'sFlappyBirdgame including so-called "ripped" art fromSuperMariogames. It might have been any of that. It mighthave been none of that. (Nguyen has previously declinedto do interviews and was not approached for this story.)P

I can't shake the feeling that this is largely a sad story. Thisis a story about a developer whose game rose toprominence in the unlikeliest of ways and becameimprobably beloved by tons of gamers despiteor becauseofits rough edges and yet appears to have becomedistressed by the success of his creation.23P

EXPANDWhat to make of this game and the fallout around it?P

I have to make a few things clear. P

First, some people thinkFlappy Birdis a terrible game;other gamers think it's brilliant. Some think it's badlymade while others marvel at what they see as amasterfully-tuned game designed for quick, challengingplay and speedy restartsjust the kind of game that canappeal to the many people who are looking for a shortburst of entertainment that requires some effort butdoesn't cause any pain. P
http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070http://kotaku.com/why-do-people-get-so-caught-up-in-the-he-makes-50k-a-1520136728http://kotaku.com/why-do-people-get-so-caught-up-in-the-he-makes-50k-a-1520136728http://kotaku.com/why-do-people-get-so-caught-up-in-the-he-makes-50k-a-1520136728http://kotaku.com/why-do-people-get-so-caught-up-in-the-he-makes-50k-a-1520136728http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070http://kotaku.com/flappy-bird-just-disappeared-from-google-play-as-creat-1519367070


3/7

I tend toward the populist side of things. If crowds lovesomething, I assume there is something good there, even ifit's lost on me. I may stink at difficult games (and even atsome easy ones!), but I can appreciate a game formasochists and I can appreciate thatFlappy Bird cateredto that appetite. If the people love a gamebe itFlappyBird,Angry BirdsorCall of DutyI trust there'ssomething wonderful in the thing they love. So count mein as someone who thinks thatFlappy Birdwas somethinggreat. P

The game designer Bennet Foddywho has crafted hisown magnificently tough games, including QWOPcredits Nguyen's gamewith "eliminat[ing] all extraneouscomplexity to focus on one very simple input mechanic."The mechanic of trying to tap a bird afloat as he fliesrightward toward narrow spaces set at various heights canbe enthralling. Most of the time, players won't get very farat all, but they seem to be unable to resist going back andtrying again, which the game makes it a cinch to do.P

Second, for good or ill,Flappy Birdhad becomecontroversial. Last week, my fellow reporters and I noticedsome chatter on Twitter about how the game andNguyen's other titles had suddenly risen in popularity. Wesaw people suggesting that Nguyen may have used botscomputer programs that would repeatedly downloadand/or auto-generate reviews of the game in order to raiseits app rankings. We were intrigued, but couldn't findanyone who had proof and left that story alone. Since

then, I've seen blog posts from people who are sureNguyendidordidn'tget help from bots.P

Regardless, Nguyen himself seemed to deny it. Whenasked on February 6 on Twitter by a reporter about theaccusations thatFlappy Bird's download stats weresomehow falsified, he replied, "It doesn't matter. Don'tyou think? If I did fake it, should Apple let it live formonths?" He'd also told the reporter that the game's"success is really overrate," adding that he refused toanswer questions and wanted the press to give him

peace.P

If, at worst, Nguyen found a way to cheat the app storeranking systemand I'm skeptical, absent proof, that hedidthe end result is that his game still appeared to winover gamers around the world. Whether his success wasnatural or assisted, it seems to have ultimately beendeserved, because the game he made resonated withpeople. He made a hit. He found an audience that couldlove his game.P
http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=33330X911644&site=kotaku.com&xs=1&isjs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2014%2Ffeb%2F10%2Fflappy-bird-is-dead-but-brilliant-mechanics-made-it-fly&xguid=5a2daa42d1317125293db31645c73681&xcreo=0&sref=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2F&pref=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2F&xtz=300http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=33330X911644&site=kotaku.com&xs=1&isjs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2014%2Ffeb%2F10%2Fflappy-bird-is-dead-but-brilliant-mechanics-made-it-fly&xguid=5a2daa42d1317125293db31645c73681&xcreo=0&sref=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2F&pref=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2F&xtz=300http://www.bluecloudsolutions.com/blog/flappy-birds-smoke-mirrors-scamming-app-store/http://www.bluecloudsolutions.com/blog/flappy-birds-smoke-mirrors-scamming-app-store/http://www.businessinsider.com/satan-and-flappy-bird-2014-2http://www.businessinsider.com/satan-and-flappy-bird-2014-2http://www.businessinsider.com/satan-and-flappy-bird-2014-2http://www.businessinsider.com/satan-and-flappy-bird-2014-2http://www.bluecloudsolutions.com/blog/flappy-birds-smoke-mirrors-scamming-app-store/http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=33330X911644&site=kotaku.com&xs=1&isjs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2014%2Ffeb%2F10%2Fflappy-bird-is-dead-but-brilliant-mechanics-made-it-fly&xguid=5a2daa42d1317125293db31645c73681&xcreo=0&sref=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2F&pref=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2F&xtz=300http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=33330X911644&site=kotaku.com&xs=1&isjs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2014%2Ffeb%2F10%2Fflappy-bird-is-dead-but-brilliant-mechanics-made-it-fly&xguid=5a2daa42d1317125293db31645c73681&xcreo=0&sref=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2F&pref=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2F&xtz=300


4/7

Nguyen also wound up receiving some negative attentionbecause of the art in his game. That's whereKotakucomesinto the story more than I'm comfortable with. And that'swhere I believe we owe Nguyen an apology. I'll say itnow...P

Dong Nguyen, I'm sorry about what we wrote about

your game's art. And I'm sorry if what we wrotecontributed to any harassment you received about yourgame. Even if it didn't I wish we could do that one over.P

The author of that piece, Jason Schreier, has also asked tosay the following...P

"Over the past couple of days, I've spent a lot of timereading reactions and feedback to the article I publishedlast week, and I've spent a lot of time regretting it. Thepost was rash, and hasty, and below my usual standards.To Kotaku I apologize for allowing that to happen. ToDong Nguyen, I apologize for my poorly-chosen words,and I hope that you find peace."45P

Much has been made aboutthat article we ran lastThursday,which originally was headlined "Flappy Bird IsMaking $50,000 A Day Off Ripped Art." The word"ripped" was too strong, and the article's author has cometo regret it. I do, too, and wished I'd caught it. Theheadline's been changed since then.67P

I wish that partially because I disagree with the opinion ofthe piece. I seeFlappy Bird as being inspired by Mario art.I think it's as fair an inspiration as the many inspirationswe've seen of classic Nintendo art in games from3D DotGame Heroesto GuacameleetoBraid. There's room fordebate there, but that's where I stand.P

Moreso, I regret not catching an article that didn't makewhat I'd consider to be a clear or fair argument.Why shouldn'ta game creator riff off of classic game art?Why would a game haveto be original? Why couldn't itremix existing styles of graphics and play? Our writer

failed to wrestle with that and so we failed our readers andDong Nguyen with that piece. Our writers don't have toagree with my opinions, but we all need to have amplenuance in our takes and I need to ensure that somethinglike that doesn't slip through again.P

Nintendo themselves have denied having an issuewithFlappy Bird. A rep for the companytold the WallStreet Journal,"While we usually do not comment on therumors and speculations, we have already denied the
http://kotaku.com/hm-i-appreciate-the-apology-that-article-in-particu-1520286207http://kotaku.com/hm-i-appreciate-the-apology-that-article-in-particu-1520286207http://bit.ly/1fWS9eihttp://bit.ly/1fWS9eihttp://bit.ly/1fWS9eihttp://bit.ly/1fWS9eihttp://kotaku.com/let-this-be-a-life-lesson-if-you-want-to-make-50-000-1520089183http://kotaku.com/let-this-be-a-life-lesson-if-you-want-to-make-50-000-1520089183http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/10/no-complaints-about-flappy-bird-nintendo-says/http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/10/no-complaints-about-flappy-bird-nintendo-says/http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/10/no-complaints-about-flappy-bird-nintendo-says/http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/10/no-complaints-about-flappy-bird-nintendo-says/http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/10/no-complaints-about-flappy-bird-nintendo-says/http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/10/no-complaints-about-flappy-bird-nintendo-says/http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/10/no-complaints-about-flappy-bird-nintendo-says/http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/10/no-complaints-about-flappy-bird-nintendo-says/http://kotaku.com/let-this-be-a-life-lesson-if-you-want-to-make-50-000-1520089183http://kotaku.com/let-this-be-a-life-lesson-if-you-want-to-make-50-000-1520089183http://bit.ly/1fWS9eihttp://bit.ly/1fWS9eihttp://kotaku.com/hm-i-appreciate-the-apology-that-article-in-particu-1520286207http://kotaku.com/hm-i-appreciate-the-apology-that-article-in-particu-1520286207


5/7

speculation [last week.]" P

With or without our "help", the Nintendo-style art inFlappy Bird seems to have outraged some gamers who sawNguyen as trying to piggyback on Nintendo's success oreven trying to deceive gamers. I see little evidence of suchscheming. Nguyen Tweeteda drawingon November 6,

2012 that included the bird that'd come to be known ashisFlappy Bird. It fit in well in the non-Mario-lookingworld in that scene.P

Looking at that old picture, I see a game dev loving old-school games. In a Tweet a few months after that, Nguyenplayfully talked about "[t]hinking about making a clone ofbreakout with some new things :-)", I can't help but see adeveloper expressing a desire to build on what went beforewhile adding his own touch in the process... a reasonabledesire, in my book. P

Near the end of last month, someone wrote the followingto Nguyen on Twitter: "i have been flappy bird for 3 hoursstraight its the most addicting thing ever"P

He answered as follows: "That is too much. Please giveyourself and the game a break :D"8P

This type of response became a recurring element of hisdiscourse over the last couple of weeks as he began toencourage players to stop playingeven if justtemporarilythe game he'd made and been so proud of.P

"Have a good night," he told one obsessed player, "Givemy games a break too."P

"You should take a break," he said to another.P

One gamer said they were going to cry because of thisgame. "Girl, actually it was made to make you laugh," heanswered.P

Nguyen didn't just seem to be distressed about gamersplaying his game to a point where it made them unhappy.He also seemed to be swimming in negative feedback.P

On January 31, he retweeted the following: "The creator ofFlappy Bird is probably the most cussed-at developer inthe world right now."P

It became clear that Nguyen wanted a break of his ownfrom a lot of the attention he was getting. Throughout hislate-January and early-February flurries of Tweets,Nguyen kept turning down press interviews. He gave a
https://twitter.com/dongatory/status/265820025359843328/photo/1https://twitter.com/dongatory/status/265820025359843328/photo/1http://kotaku.com/i-love-this-guy-1520035754http://kotaku.com/i-love-this-guy-1520035754http://kotaku.com/i-love-this-guy-1520035754https://twitter.com/dongatory/status/265820025359843328/photo/1


6/7

brief interview to The Verge, which reported that he wasmaking$50,000 a day.Regardless, he rebuffedsuggestions that he charge for the game, telling one personwho asked for him to drop the in-game ads and let peoplepay for Flappy Bird that "I don't think I can charge peoplefor such a simple game."P

Nguyen regularly retweeted comments from people whowere either praising his game or gnashing their teeth overit. And when he was accused of copyinga 2011 game calledPiou PiouPiou Piouthat featured a yellow bird flyingthrough spaces between green cacti, he wrote, "It happensto look alike. But I don't even know about the game at thetime I made it." He pointed out that he'd already drawnhis bird for a platforming game, the one he'd Tweeted theimage of more than a year ago.P

Nguyen pretty much responded to every kind of question,compliment or complaint people threw at him, accordingto my reading of his Twitter feed. He was exhaustive evenas his follower count swelled suddenly from a mere 300 to129,000 in just a handful of weeks. P

Late last week, Nguyen Tweeted apologies to his fans for adelay in updating the game. He blamed distractions fromthe press. He retweeted jokes about how much his gamewas making people hate him.P

"People are overusing my app :-(," he complained lastSaturday. A little later, he wrote, "I can call 'Flappy Bird' isa success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now Ihate it." He was asked if his distress was partly due to ourThursday article about his Mario-ish art. P

"Are you tired of all the accusations from @Kotaku whobelieve you stole sprites from Mario games?" he wasasked. (Again, for the record,Kotaku/I do not think hestole sprites from Mario.)P

"Ah, I didn't directly stole something," he replied. "It isquite an art to doing that :-)... Sorry for the typos :-) Tootired to take care of."P

"No problem," the person said, "but you hate the successof Flappy Bird?"P

"Not because of them but because how people use mygame," Nguyen answered. "They are overusing it."P
http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/5/5383708/flappy-bird-revenue-50-k-per-day-dong-nguyen-interviewhttp://www.theverge.com/2014/2/5/5383708/flappy-bird-revenue-50-k-per-day-dong-nguyen-interviewhttp://www.theverge.com/2014/2/5/5383708/flappy-bird-revenue-50-k-per-day-dong-nguyen-interviewhttp://www.zanorg.com/prodperso/pioupiou.htmlhttp://www.zanorg.com/prodperso/pioupiou.htmlhttp://www.zanorg.com/prodperso/pioupiou.htmlhttp://www.zanorg.com/prodperso/pioupiou.htmlhttp://www.zanorg.com/prodperso/pioupiou.htmlhttp://www.zanorg.com/prodperso/pioupiou.htmlhttp://www.zanorg.com/prodperso/pioupiou.htmlhttp://www.zanorg.com/prodperso/pioupiou.htmlhttp://www.theverge.com/2014/2/5/5383708/flappy-bird-revenue-50-k-per-day-dong-nguyen-interview


7/7

Documents

The Flappy Bird