r/Place

The r/Place Reddit Social Experiment

What is r/Place?

r/Place was a Reddit social experiment held on Reddit from April 1st to April 3rd. The subreddit consisted of a 1,000 by 1,000 grid pixel where any Reddit user was allowed to draw on this canvas. However, there was a catch. Only one pixel could be drawn every 5 to 10 minutes. Anyone was also able to draw over your pixel which meant if you wanted to leave a mark on the canvas, you better had been ready to defend it.

This resulted in a large number of communities, subreddits and fandoms coming together to leave a mark on this historic canvas. Battles for territory, forming of alliances, backstabbing allies and way more. There was even the creation of a Reddit world congress where each subreddit sent a delegate to represent them, kinda like the United Nation. You could literally write a book about this stuff but I don't have time for that so below are some notable factions from r/Place.

The Void

The void was a Reddit group that had one goal in which it was to destroy artworks and replace them with empty darkness. Some tried to defend their artwork from the void but people who tried to defend their artwork quickly lost faith in saving it. The void was well organized and easily outnumbered most other factions. Notable pieces of art the void tried to cover was the OSU logo and the American flag. However, in the dark periods of r/place, a large coalition of various subreddits was formed and defeated the void together. To this day, no one is 100% sure who the void was. Some say it was formed from 4chan users. Others say they were just normal redditors. No one is sure.

The Battle Against the French and German Flag

Soon after r/Place was created, both the German and French Flag was created nearby each other. At first, they coexisted however as the German flag kept expanding, it started heading towards the french flag and soon, they were right in front of the French flag. In the early morning of the second day, it happened. German redditors spammed pixel on top of the french flag and within hours the french had lost the battle. However, after the battle was over, a lot of the german Reddit users felt bad they had invaded France for the 3rd time now (WW1 & WW2) so, in the end, they decided to create an EU flag where the french flag once stood as a sign of peace and unity.

The Blue Corner

The blue corner was one of the first organized groups to participate in r/place and they took advantage of that. They expanded rapidly and at its peak, it filled 1/8th of the canvas dwarfing other factions. However, this giant empire would soon crumble. A twitch streamer told all his fans to spam the purple pixel on top of the blue corner. In the end, it was only a shadow of its former self, a reminder that no one is invincible.

The end result

After 72 hours, r/Place closed. Right now, the subreddit can still be accessed and the final canvas can still be explored. Use the link below to see the final canvas. If you would like to see more stories from r/Place, press the second link or just search online. There are always new stories coming out from r/Place to this day so there won't be any shortage of fascinating stories any time soon.

The Final Canvas: https://www.reddit.com/r/place/ More Stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkPAJ8aP89U&t=1s

Written by Oscar

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