Flappy Bird flies up the charts
Graphic by Clara Ilkka
February 16, 2014
Flappy bird, the new trend that has hit teenagers and even adults today is the most addicting game around. Just like the game candy crush or temple run, it will have its super star moment and be at the top sales for apps, but it could be out of fashion by the end of next week.
Students say the game is frustrating, hard and distracting, making it harder to focus on school work and learn the material the teachers are teaching them.
According to Android app store, out of 323 thousand people that have rated the app, 195 thousand of them rated it five stars, 48 thousand people rated it four stars, but about 44 thousand people rated it one star.
It is very frustrating because there is only one way to get a decent score at the game and that is having a flying bird pass through two tubes without touching them. If the bird touches either of the tubes then the bird dies and it goes back to the start of the game.
Sophomore Celeste Tomilnson said, “The constant anger and failure makes you want to do better and play more. This is more frustrating than temple run. You get addicted to wanting to beat your score and just want to keep playing.”
Junior Jonathan Koprek agreed with Tomilnson and added, “It is definitely more frustrating than temple run. The fact that it is frustrating makes people want to keep playing it to beat it and they get so absorbed in the game.”
The fact that it is addicting makes it hard for students to stay focused in school or other things going on a daily basis that need attention. Instead of doing homework, some students play this game to keep entertained or to avoid doing school work.
Junior Lauryn Millard said, “What makes this game so addicting is the fact that you want to beat your high school as well as be better than your friends at the game. In my free time I will play it and sometimes I will not start something else until I beat my old score. You get so irritated with the game that you just have to keep playing.”
Distracting is also a characteristic of this game, because students get distracted easy. Instead of doing homework, this is also an option and it always seems to win.
Tomilnson said, “It can get you distracted for a while when you probably could be doing something better with your life, like homework. Sometimes people get so aggravated that they just quit until later.”
The main point of the game is to get a bird through two tubes, and it seems like it would be easy. It really is not though, because the tubes move and it can be a challenge.
Koprek stated, “My favorite part of the game is flying through the poles and getting a better score.”
This new trend has the potential to stay around, if students do not get too frustrated by it. Every trend eventually dies out, but flappy bird is the hottest new app out there.
Alex Magler • Feb 19, 2014 at 2:06 pm
I think this topic is hard to write a lot on, but you did a good job expanding the topic. The quotes explained the game really well.
Alec Youngblood • Feb 19, 2014 at 9:24 am
You did a great job here making a well written article out of a pretty limited amount of information. Some of the quotes were a little weak, but for the most part they were interesting as well.
Cole Funck • Feb 19, 2014 at 4:00 am
I think you pulled together what you could find very well and constructed a very good article from that. Especially considering the trend was just reaching its peak around the time you probably started. Its a shame you missed out on reporting the ridiculous e-bay sales of I phones with Flappy Bird installed after the app was taken from the app store.
savanna sylvis • Feb 18, 2014 at 11:07 pm
This was a good article because it was probably harder to express opinions with out them being similar. I liked the quotes because I think any student with the game flappy bird can relate!
Katie Beedle • Feb 18, 2014 at 5:09 pm
I think this is a hard topic to expand on, but you did a good job. I like how you talked about how distracting the game is from school work, and connected it to how it affects students. Maybe try to interview someone other than students though.
Tim Press • Feb 17, 2014 at 2:43 am
For the most part, you used good quotes and elaborated on them with proficient reporting and sufficient writing. The only thing I would change is your seventh paragraph. It just seems to be bordering on editorializing when you say that “students play this game to keep entertained or to avoid doing school work.” Try to keep the focus on the game itself, not on how students may or may not get distracted from it. I definitely would’ve left out “students get distracted easy.” That’s making an assumption, which you should avoid in this case. Other than that, everything else seemed fine.