From the night of July 24 to 7 AM on July 25, with the launch by streamer Phùng Thanh Độ (Độ Mixi), the Vietnamese online community came together to draw the map of Vietnam, accompanied by the affirmation: “The Paracel and Spratly Islands belong to Vietnam” on the R/place map.
For those who may not know, Place is a collaborative and social experiment project organized on the social network Reddit since April 1, 2017, coinciding with April Fools’ Day. In 2022, the event returned in the form of the Subreddit R/place.
Initially, R/place was a white canvas containing millions of pixels. Every 5 minutes, each individual could register an account and color one pixel (with 24 colors to choose from). From each pixel that was colored, images would gradually take shape.
It may sound simple to complete the pictures, but it is a great challenge because the number of users participating in the actions is quite large, making synchronization of the steps very difficult. Additionally, during the process of completing the picture, there will be many cases of “mistaken dots” or intentional sabotage.
The international Reddit user community was quite surprised and impressed by the image created by the Vietnamese online community. Many participants from other countries expressed admiration for Vietnam’s ability to create such a beautiful and large image amidst the fierce competition on R/place.