La géopolitique expliquée avec des pixels

A young Englishman named Alex creates a site in 2005 selling 1 million pixels at 1 dollar each to fund his university studies.

Buyers can change the color of pixels and add a link to their site, with access to an area corresponding to the number of pixels purchased.

• The BBC reports on the project • The site generates massive curiosity • Generates 1 million dollars in 3 months • Alex becomes a university speaker

The project is not designed to evolve: once filled and with no reason to resell, the page freezes and traffic disappears quickly.

Reddit, created in 2005, changes the forum model by allowing anyone to create subreddits without central approval, unlike traditional forums.

Each user can create a subreddit dedicated to any subject, such as competitive duck breeding, instantly and without administrative barriers.

On April 1, 2017, Reddit creates a special subreddit called Place: a blank canvas of 1 million pixels where users place pixels with a 5-minute delay between each action.

• The 5-minute timer forces users to band together • Encourages communities to work together • Creates instant sense of belonging • Establishes competition and conflict

Early on, a rainbow road becomes the first recognizable pattern, allowing anyone to identify and help extend it without instructions.

• The Blue Corner forms and organizes as a political empire • Construction of a road to connect colonies • Creation of a governance structure on Discord • Rivalry with purple tribes and other factions

A destructive force emerges, presented as an agent of change reshuffling things to prevent Place from freezing under a single domination.

The arrival of streamers with thousands of concentrated viewers destroys the balance: Tyler1 launches a massive attack on the Osu logo with 15,000 people.

• Osu players discover that Place caches pixels • Refreshing the page before placing a pixel increases accuracy • Watching only the target area reduces display delay • This drastically reduces wasted pixels placed

Programmers create overlays displaying what color each pixel should be, eliminating hesitation and uncertainty.

Attacks are conducted in waves organized by birth month, every 30 seconds, avoiding vulnerability for 5 minutes.

• Maintain outlines more than the center • Keep the drawing recognizable in all circumstances • Prioritize silhouette over color • Accept not sleeping for 2 full days

The French and Germans fight, then Europe proposes collaboration accepted by both sides, proving that having allies is better than enemies.

Maryland proposes an alliance based on time zones: Americans defend the Swedish flag at night while Swedes sleep.

A grape mascot completely changes the Green Lattice culture from isolationist to welcoming and protective of small artists.

• Alliances emerge from challenges and rivalries • Communities realize collaboration is more effective than confrontation • Diplomacy becomes more valued than pure domination • Lasting friendships form beyond Place

Mexico debates for hours whether to destroy a Yoshi before deciding to protect it with a sombrero, diplomatically integrating neighboring communities.

• Canada constantly gets trolled trying to draw a maple leaf • San Francisco confuses its eagle with the Lakers logo • Lithuania defends against lengthening its knight's sword • Rainbow flags symbolize inclusion and tolerance

Users previously interested in different subjects discover games, cultural references, and stories together through collective drawings.

Participants learn country flags, cultural references, video games, and form connections with people from all cultures.

Reddit suddenly stops Place without warning users. Many had plans for after but cannot finalize them.

Participants spend time discovering all of Place through interactive maps, learn stories behind each drawing, and feel grief at erasures.

• 2018: Circle of Trust with passwords and betrayal possibility • 2015: The Button with timer and color assignment by click timing • Color systems creating grouped identities • Each experiment tests group psychology and belonging

Place and The Button teach that people sacrifice time and energy for strangers they share a group identity with, rather than solitary productivity.

After 5 years of recurring requests, Reddit announces Place 2022 via a trailer, causing hype explosion among established communities.

• Place fills so fast its size must double after 24 hours • Doubled again 24 hours later • Many more small peaceful communities with alliances • More evolving drawings and narratives over several hours

Minecraft reproduces a gameplay sequence with respawn, Outer Wilds simulates its time loop, Foxhole transforms Place into an interactive mini-game with two rival teams.

• A Triforce meant to commemorate Reddit's past games becomes simply a Triforce • Homestuck secretly influences the Void's appearance • Obscure references to games like LISA and Geometry Dash coexist • Each pixel hides a story or community passion

xQc operates like the 2017 Void but 300 times more dangerous with central organization and no debate, destroying more drawings than all other streamers combined in 3 days.

• Turkish streamers mobilize their community with Ottoman military chants • Hololive fans rally around their generals • Osu recognizes their 2017 experience and resists effectively • Defenses succeed only with comparable-sized streamers

In a game where everyone gets a pixel every 5 minutes, a streamer with 15,000 viewers organizes unmatched power that small communities cannot counter.

xQc's destruction stops when encountering other streamers or massive communities organized around an authority figure.

French streamer Kameto decides to place the KCorp logo on Place, creating rivalry with Ibai, KOI team president, who does the same with the KOI logo.

• Kameto and Inoxtag decide to massively expand their area by covering an entire rectangle • France creates a 160,000-pixel Eiffel Tower • Ibai mobilizes Latin America and attacks massively • Americans get involved over a story about a frog assassination

The pixel war receives major media coverage, with Zinédine Zidane congratulating Kameto, and journalists covering the event live on international media.

• Kameto receives help from many communities motivated by geographic attachment • France maintains its flag for 48 hours against constant assaults • Alliances based on geographic proximity prove more effective • The French flag becomes a symbol of resistance against super-streamers

John Carmack predicted in 2004 that video gaming's future would depend on accessibility: letting people play together quickly, efficiently, and without barriers.

• Place lets 400,000 people play simultaneously • Ordinary fans play for the first time with their favorite streamer • No entry barriers, no complex accounts, no levels to grind • Instant and intuitive: place a pixel in 5 minutes maximum

Streamers have the right to live their stories on Place like everyone else. Small communities complaining will probably be streamer fans in the future and benefit from accessibility.

• Developers will draw inspiration from Place to create accessible experiences • People will charge cavalry or plant pumpkins with their idols • The gaming industry will emphasize reducing barriers between discovery and participation • Place will shape accessibility evolution in multiplayer games

Place 2022 ends differently from 2017: instead of a freeze, everyone colors white until completely erasing the fresco.

The French color Osu white first, leaving an Osu streamer extremely sad to see the logo they defended so fiercely disappear first.

A Canadian mother describes how Place enabled her autistic daughter and her to share hours of discovery, learning, and emotional bonding through drawings and stories.

• The mother and daughter revisit Place via interactive maps after it ends • They discover games, cultures, flags together • Create precious memories around a collective experience • Place transcends its 3 days to become a permanent family memory