For teens, the beginning of 2014 in all of its’ glory, has solely come down to the popularization of one addictive game: Flappy Bird! The app suddenly became popular mid-January (though it was created in May 2013) and was quickly became known as the most frustrating game, yet no one could stop playing. Students at SMHS sat in the hallways, their faces glued to the screen, trying to beat their record score.
While jealousy of a high score rang true in our school, Flappy Bird’s complications suddenly led to death or at least the chance of it. On February 8, 2014 at 9:02 am, the creator of Flappy Bird, Dong Nguyen, tweeted, “I am sorry Flappy Bird users, 22 hours from now, I will take Flappy Bird down. I cannot take this anymore.” Most people were disappointed by this sudden loss of the game, but many addicted players, who dedicated hours of their life to Flappy Bird, were furious. They began to send death threats to Nguyen, and without him tweeting that he was still alive and well, the world easily could’ve thought that he committed suicide. There were rumors that people had committed suicide over the game, while another story popped up saying that a teen fatally stabbed his brother, because of teasing over his low score in Flappy Bird.
Right after the game got deleted from the app store, people decided to sell their phones that already had Flappy Bird installed on it on eBay. One 16GB iPhone 5 in particular was sold for more than $90,000. And even though Flappy Bird may be gone, there are tons of mimics that can be downloaded on the app store. These include Splashy Fish, Flappy Beard Hipster Quest, Flying Mustache, and Flying Cyrus.
Journalism student, Marjorie Miranda asked Erick Sandoval, sophomore, and Audrey Teng, senior, questions about the popular game:
What do you think about Flappy Bird?
Audrey: “It’s addicting and frustrating.”
Erick: “It is very stressful.”
Why is the game so difficult?
Audrey: “You want try to pass your highest score.”
Erick: “Because you can’t get the bird in between the tubes.”
What’s your highest score?
Audrey: “117.”
Erick: “20.”
Would you recommend it to a friend?
Audrey: “Yes, because it kills time.”
Erick: “No, it can cause a lot of stress.”
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