r/Place

On April Fool's day this year reddit launched an experiment in collective human design by launching a subreddit called r/Place. The idea is that there is a huge grid of pixels where anyone can change the colour any pixel they want. However after making a change you then have to wait 5 minutes before you can go again.

What results is a glorious mess of internet in jokes. Here's the link so that you can witness it for yourself.

The progress after a day.

Much like the mythos that grew around the button last year, factions of thousands of people have formed to work together to make things. Some of the bigger ones such as the Blue Corner and Rainbow Road manage to claim huge areas on the canvas, while smaller groups would make and defend small images or even a couple of pixels.

Subreddits have been set up for groups to "wage war" on other groups or to make alliances. Self organisation and cooperation have sprung up from the apparent chaos. Some people are out to destroy, some want to represent their organisation, others just want to make something pretty. I find it fascinating to see this average of humanity in one image.

I have set myself the task of making Pacman in the Green Lattice on the right hand side, near the top. It is just above the Green Lattice logo. 

This took a surprisingly long time. 

Update: I've had a very productive day...

No one owns any of the grid, but the language that has evolved around it implies otherwise. The currency of the groups is their size and therefore the number of changes they can make in a time period. Projects will seek to get approval with other groups which I find bizarre. My Pacman was made without any approval, so we will see how long it lasts.

Update again: my Pacman is gone. It is a wild west out there.