It started with a completely white canvas. One pixel at a time, people were leaving their mark on this uncharted territory. Quite literally their mark; when you clicked on a pixel, it showed the redditor's username and time of placement. But art takes time, and no one knows this better than place contributors, as each individual redditor could only place 1 pixel per 5 minutes. At first, it was noise. No one quite knew what to do with the limited toolset, vague instructions, and a seemingly huge canvas.A crude red outline of a penis in the center that disintegrated as more people started to contribute and discover the place.

Then people came together to create something more. Dickbutt was the premiere work of collaborative art, and I personally would expect no less from reddit. Sprite Artists started to come along and make some familiar faces from Mario, to Link, to Mega Man. Let's not forget Lord Helix. A legendary member of another collaborative internet project who, praise be, remains unscathed on the final canvas.

Then came the color wars, and the canvas started to divide itself into groups. The Order of the Blue Corner (/r/TheBlueCorner) had a commendable union and arguably was the largest territory of the bunch. Rainbow Road (/r/ainbowroad) held a steady second lead with a surprising following despite it's intricate pattern. Green Lattice (/r/greenlattice) is also worthy of a mention, even though it hadn't gained as much traction; a Team Instinct to the Mystic and Valor, if you will. In a similar fashion to Rainbow Road, the Transgender Flag (/r/TransFlagPlace) had a substantial impact on the canvas, making it all the way across the map, and being one of the earlier groups to manage that feat. The carrot farm that was /r/FarmCarrots was a delight to watch as it literally grew, pixel by pixel. Another similar movement to the carrots was /r/PlaceHearts which helped many quite literally share the love in /r/place. The beginnings of unity were forming in these early movements.

Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? Well you most likely have now, as a surprising effort from /r/PrequelMemes came forth and not only had a surprising lead from the start, but had managed to turn their chaos into order by condensing the entire story into a smaller space with a smaller (but still legible) font. A surprise, to be sure. But a welcome one, as it had survived the entire run. And in the colors of the Sith, Red and Black. How fitting.

Of course, we can't talk about color groups without Yin and Yang. White (/r/EraseThePlace) sought to restore the place by reverting it back to an original "blank" state. But Black (a.k.a. The Void) had a much stronger movement attached to them. The colors were different but the goal was the same; to overwrite the work of others and create a new blank canvas for people to take back. Whether it be via replacement, or by rebuilding. Even out of this war became art, as there became a strong effort to recreate Pink Floyd's album artwork for "Dark Side of the Moon" within The Void. A war which was won, and can be seen on the final canvas. This wouldn't be the end of the destructive nature of The Void, though.

There was collaboration in destroying art, sure. But there was also collaboration in preserving it. The Blue Corner rose up as the first to welcome and protect art within its radiant blue waters; as long as the art had a blue border surrounding it, of course. Rainbow Road began to follow suit, both becoming a safe haven for art, as long as it helped expand their empire with a rainbow border. He-Man/Skeletor and Helix Fossil being noteworthy mainstays of Rainbow Road, as to Bender and Rocket League becoming noteworthy mainstays of The Blue Corner. The more people behind their movement, the better chance they had of preserving it, and that goes for both sides.

These two color groups continued to have a major influence on the entirety of the canvas. One of the first major alliances (if not the first) was formed between these two parties, in fact. The rainbow was allowed to shine it's glorious multicolored rays along The Blue Corner, and The Blue Corner was allowed to expand along the Rainbow's edge. So began the Era of Alliance; smaller factions and subreddits had come to larger factions for assistance. At this stage, it was very difficult to command your own space alone, without a movement behind you to create your work of art.

But as groups had managed to grow with time, time had managed to grow with them. Due to the massive server strain the amount of users had caused at this point, the time limit had increased dramatically. From 5 minutes. To 10 minutes. To a peak of 20 minutes. Reddit rebelled whenever the time limit was increased, and general disgruntlement could be heard from /r/new over this change. Eventually, the pushback worked, and the community had managed to change the time limit back to a reasonable 5 minutes.

One would argue that the place was always art as it was. But art is nothing without ambition, and my, some ambitious projects were begun on the canvas. This is where the mosaic groups come in. Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa (/r/MonaLisaClan) was an obvious choice, followed soon after by Van Gogh's Starry Night (/r/StarryKnights). Celebrity contributions started pouring in, with David Bowie and Steve Irwin making an appearance as well. It was fascinating to watch as these projects defied the limited palette and time limits to create true works of art.

This of course was nothing compared to the movements behind the flags. Sheer nationalism erupted from almost every country to quite literally earn their place on the map. Germany (/r/PlaceDe) became an amazing driving force of the flag movement, taking up an amazing amount of space that even forced France out of the way. There was some war for space of course, but in addition, cooperation. Visible alliances could be seen in the form of hearts, but also in the form of a beer tap and condiments, a sign of Belgium's collaboration with Germany. Pixelated treaties appeared among nations aiming to support one another against grievers and the relentless void, who had been planning attacks together in secret.

Flags, Groups, and Mosaics had collided several times. Australia had managed to obscure Rainbow Road on their own with an addition to their section, but came to an agreement on another addition; the Steve Irwin mosaic. Rainbow Road also had some difficulty when the American flag decided to encroach upon the Rainbow Road. USA managed to pull together before the end though, and gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

The Void had lurked in the shadows and sought many targets. Rick and Morty's Tiny Rick and his right foot became a victim, Mona Lisa and Waldo of Where's Waldo? became targets, but the biggest impact was Starry Night. Which had almost become lost, had it not been for the efforts of PlaceStart and France.

Attacks weren't always prompted by the void, necessarily. Osu! (/r/osugame) was definitely a cause for a little conflict and controversy. The initial attack on the logo was due to a Twitch Streamer's influence, but the logo managed recovery several times with a vengeance. There were plans to incorporate pink art within the OSU! logo, but miscommunication within the group and general disregard caused the logo to remain mostly the same, with one minor Overwatch collaboration in the form of D.VA's bunny.

Another that drew controversy and criticism was the Windows 95 Start Taskbar (/r/placestart). With humble beginnings in the bottom left it seemed like a small homage to a nostalgic operating system. As it expanded it came under fire, with the main complaint being that it was using valuable space for an otherwise boring and uncreative border. There were some efforts made to incorporate smaller factions as icons in the taskbar, though, and for the most part the team had followed through. They had even given the Van Gogh a frame, so to speak. But not without taking up more valuable space to create a corporate message.

Looking at the final canvas, it seems to me that one of the largest disappointments in the project was how corporate and branded it had become. A project that began with culture and laughter at the unique creations like dickbutt, Dat Boi, and the Pink Vomit Monster–which although mangled, managed to survive–had turned into a poster of communities banding behind brands. Movies, games, tv shows, sports teams, albums... Even flags could be considered a brand, in a way. And because there was never way to distinguish contributors between robot and human, late stage /r/place had become a botted scripting competition between the larger parties, with smaller factions begging in discords and subreddits to have a slice of their automated pie.

But early yesterday afternoon, the plug had been pulled. Just as each pixel on place represented how the very essence of art is an constantly changing, ever evolving, and fleeting medium, /r/place became an example of that metaphor by shutting down after a mere 72 hours.

Now that the project has come to a close, I have to admit, I am thankful for all the things that I don't have to wait five minutes at a time to do on the internet. When an artificial time limit barrier is placed on your internet actions, it makes you realize how we take so many digital processes that are "instant" for granted.

Thank you to the mods who worked hard on this project. I hope you consider doing an AMA sometime soon, because I am sure many people have questions about the behind the scenes on the project.

And most importantly, thank you. No matter your contribution, whether it was several pixels or just one. Whether you spent your time creating, protecting, or destroying. You helped make this possible.

A blank canvas in more ways than one, in just a mere 72 hours, a plain subreddit evolved into a community. A forum became a brainstorming network. A community divided, united, and contributed to this canvas in one way or another. Some will look at the final canvas as the only thing to take away from this experiment and I can't help but think what a keyhole mindset that is. It was never about what the final project ended up as, it was about the journey. The friendships we created along the way with random strangers to create something beautiful. The art is not in the final canvas, but in the process. Every timelapse. Every template. Every subreddit. Every meme. Every part of this community.

With this last canvas, we can say this with certainty...

We did it, reddit! :)

What a wonderful place to be.

Author's Afterwords: Glad to have been a part of this experiment, and as this subreddit becomes inevitably archived within the next few days, I want to say that it has been an honor to create nothing less than pure art with all of you. Thanks to the mods and reddit for creating this place. We will all have something to remember it by, whether it be in the final canvas, in a timelapse, or on this subreddit.

Remember, even though the place has ended, you remain with the power to create. Even if it takes a long time, even if it needs some help, even if others try to tear it down and it comes apart along the way. This wouldn't have happened without your contributions and your help. You can create the difference you want to see in the world, even if it seems insignificant. Even if it seems as small as one pixel at a time. -/u/Hackintosh_HD

p.s. If I have missed anything noteworthy in my story or have made an error in my details, please submit an addition/addendum to my summary and I will review it. If you want me to add a place-specific subreddit I may have missed, please bring it to my attention. You may also submit your paragraph of contribution in a comment or a private message to me and I will edit the post accordingly. These events also might be slightly out of order.