What A Poetic Ending - Tumblr Posts

Hermitcraft on r/place - We Chose to Destroy Our World (4/4/2022) LAST DAY PART 2

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Part 1 Day 3 Part 2 Day 4 Part 1

This is the end of it all! Some might say this was the beginning. Some might say there wasn't any difference at all.

r/place close to the ending time shown below! (There are many different versions with slight variations, I chose this one because it's not Kermitcrapt)

... I wasn't going to make this post because I was too emotionally devastated to know what was happening and provide a "proper" recap. And I suppose most of you already know what happened. This post is for the people who have been clicking my links way after r/place ended and don't want to dip into every blog and search for #r/place. Also felt bad leaving the last post on a cliffhanger-ish. While having the last post be never posted fits the theme of "nothing lasts forever", it also just isn't... very nice, is it?

1. Shared Minecraft Roots

It was around this time (after the previous post was made) that our MC(YT) allies started asking for help because Hermitcraft was solidified. Mindcrack asked for help with their murals.

(Screenshot from AvivaKitty in HC discord)

Mindcrack area was apparently being botted HARD and for seemingly no reason? The colours of the G logo kept on being griefed (background became lime, the letter became purple) but the structure was still strangely intact. It was a tough (and also strange) battle but ultimately Mindcrack defended their area and won over the recolouring bots.

MCSR also urgently asked for our help as half of the area was being swallowed by NSFW art (from streamers maybe? Sorry I got a bit lost at this part).

(Screenshot from Jay from HC discord, shows the template of the MCSR area at 1436, 1436. They set up at 1436 because Couriway's WR was 14:36 mins long)

The area next to MCSR was a constant battle between NSFW art, MCSR desperately trying to regain territory, and the Void. It's best to search up MCSR r/place history because that shit is wild from what I heard.

Love Live was also attacked by a baguette (I know this sounds ridiculous but it was serious in the moment) and Ruby was suddenly holding a baguette. This was presumably an attack done by the French. They recovered well and thanked us. There were more minor debates on colours of blushes, small pixels, other things.

Keep in mind HC had a lot more allies, lots of communities were asking for help so I possibly can't put them all in. I also cannot account for the entire MCYT sphere even though I'm vaguely aware of them (eg. Dream and Techno's murals, nether portals). It should be noted that HC was prominently lending support to fellow MC(YT) murals, and even for MCYT that had minimal connection with HC (eg 5up), HC remained neutral if not somewhat supportive. It's just unspoken to help out a fellow MC(YT) mural.

2. Portuguese Speaking Protectors

So as you may or may not know, Brazil was besties with Hermitcraft, and Portugal also had a found family arc with Traffic Empires (and Hypixel). It's funny because it was completely coincidental that MCYT set up next to Portuguese speaking countries. If you hear the fandom referring to this, you'll know where it came from.

(Screenshot from FavouriteGinger on the HC discord)

It really is very cute <3

3. ARCHIVED INSTRUCTIONS from Hermitcraft Discord

This is copy and pasted from the pinned messages in the #rplace channel for your reference. As far as I know, this is the most recent version by Lux1eviathan with input from Echo. Be warned that this is quite long (especially with tumblr functioning, it looks fine on Discord).

Instructions: We don't know when rplace closes. Reddit intends to keep this a secret to prevent last minute grieving. Could be minutes or (9pm PT, 4am GMT).

1. the blushies stay

2. we only add non hermit faces with a very good reason

3. we focus on defense of our mural and our allies as well

4. no expanding, all surrounding communities are at least neutral but mostly friendly with us, we don't want to take their space

EDITS:

5. Dont give X white eyes! they are purple on purpose

6. Don't give anyone a mustache! it takes away pixels we could use on maintaining other parts of the mural

7. Short F in the logo! this makes it easier to prevent "hermitcrapt"

8. "stop touching scott. he is perfect!" - C.

9. Yes pearl has a blush below her hairline! It is in the skin. And yes it is supposed to be skew!

10. We have an agreement with dimden.dev. Their border is allowed to touch our stuff.

11. Blue pixel is allowed to touch Ely?

CURRENT ALLIANCES (thank you @echo (u/constellationstars) !):

- mcc (above us and 1783, 122 with the team logos)

- dsmp (170, 920)

- 3rd life/last life (1143, 320)

- shoot or run (the axolotl in our area) -

argentina (right)

- brazil (right)

- spacex (left)

- h3 (up left)

- mindustry (the square directly above the last life hearts)

- farm carrots (1178, 506)

- 2b2t (925, 454)

- lovelive (below us)

- wheatley (left)

- troll (861, 541)

- jojo (85,890)

- wynncraft Small (701, 775) Big (1386, 344)

- udub -- the W with the cherry blossoms just to the north

- mindcrack, mcsr Minecraft Speedrun (1470, 1460)

- portal easter egg (1282, 1406)

- Touhou and Omori (multiple locations)

- dimden.dev (left)

- the GME line (right)

4. The Final Stretch

There was much debate on when r/place would end. Rumours flew about when streamers would go on air and what they would do. People were clutching onto their pixels like pearls. We also had a delegate on United Art Factions who gave us updates.

Suddenly, Dream started streaming with the aim of removing ads on r/place and replacing them with art (additional information: Ludwig was protective of small communities and helped defend art). He and his community Unus-Annus'd the H3 logo above us (they left the bigger H3 logo alone). Smaller H3 was later restored.

The other streamerss were apparently targeting big things like Osu and France so we should be fine. After all, Hermitcraft didn't have many enemies.

We also started submitting to r/thefinalclean which would clean up the r/place with communities submitting their "perfect" reference. We coordinated with MCC to let them know if we should include their spot in our area (after all, we were neighbours). MCC said they would submit everything north of HC sign, Noxcrew, and the chicken, while HC would also submit the Last Life hearts and the Evo logo. HBomb also started looking like a catmaid so we quickly repaired him.

The clock ticked closer and closer to 12am GMT, a rumoured end time. People were getting tired of defending their pixels and started wishing for the Reddit gods to end this whole ordeal already.

Around 15 minutes before 12am, it began.

The beginning of the end.

5. The Beginning Of The End

It began innocently enough. I was doing my patrols every minute around the HC area, then saw a few white pixels on our logo. Now one pixel wasn't unusual, but the number made me worry. The colour choice was also odd because GME rogues used green, Brazil rogues also used green, and the HC logo was made of blue, purple, and black. As I was on cooldown, I dutifully reported to HC discord. "Logo being griefed!" I said.

Then people started noticing the only colour available was white. And it wasn't a glitch for one person, or a few people, but for everyone.

Uh oh.

The chat was being spammed with "oh crap" or "oh no" or variations. Reddit's intention sank in like cold water seeping into our bones: they wanted r/place to end in a white void.

They didn't just want Hermitcraft to be erased. Oh no, no, no. They wanted everything to be erased. All our allies. All the NSFW streamer art. All of the Void. Everything. Nothing.

This was the end of the world as we knew it. We could do nothing except jump off the ship with a cheery, yet solemn "o7".

People were shocked. People were in disbelief. We legit speedran the stages of grief in a few minutes. From the utter shock and horror to bargaining (Maybe it already ended? Maybe they saved our place?) to anger at our hard work being completely erased. Then came the depression as we mutely held each other. Finally, acceptance, and more and more people signed off. We sent songs about the world ending and thank you messages and tried to make our words count with the slowmode choking our sentences.

Please believe me when I say this experience fucked me up.

The worst part for me personally was that it was a slow death. It wasn't like Reddit froze time or they used their powers to wipe the board clean. No, no, they offered everybody a single colour. Collectively, we had the power to preserve everything if nobody ever placed a wrong white pixel. We could save our world if we tried.

But of course nobody even thought of that because the damage was already done. The white pixels were already gently falling down like snow. Ever since the first white pixel was placed, our fate was sealed.

We would destroy this world, pixel by pixel, as slowly and meticulously as we built it.

At first, many found it unacceptable. They thought it was unfair that their efforts were all erased. Others found it poetic that it ended as it began. Others were just RELIEVED this was over. Others were standing there, completely emotionally devastated. There was one question left unanswered:

What now?

6. The Void and What Came After

The wave of o7s crashing in HC discord was very nice, but also sad. This was about when I signed off because I was internally screaming LOL

Bottom right corner France instantly turned white (haha, bots?). The hivemind collectively spelled out FREE and then DONE (which immediately became BONER) in white. We were set free from our silly pixel defence games.

(Screenshot by Gren in HC discord)

Hermitcraft x Brazil area slowly became consumed by the white and it looked like snowing. Because looking at the disappearing HC area was upsetting for me, I migrated to Traffic Empires where people were drawing white hearts on flags, Martyn asked for his own death, I anxiously checked and rechecked my blush pixel on RK, etc etc.

Pixel by pixel, Redditors gently erased the thing they'd been obsessed for days. It was almost like putting everybody to sleep. The snow fell harder, heavier, until it was all quiet. There was nothing.

People scrambled to place a white pixel so their names could remain on the final canvas, but even that was erased. The final product was a huge, endlessly white canvas, untarnished by names or human creation.

Just like how it all started.

Our allies, now recovered from the shock, now came in to spread their thank yous. So many of them have left the chat now because r/place was over, leaving behind their ghost messages and ghost hearts. People, now emotional, started sprouting stories and fanfic and poetry. There are a lot of good stuff in the HC discord, including the now famous "maybe we can be neighbours again next time" from r/brasil <3

Then HC discord resumed their eternal debate about colours of Hermit pixels, and I moved to tumblr to start babbling about Narnia kids and snowfall and waking up from a long dream lol.

The end is the beginning. We created a world, lived in it for such a short time, became attached, and then it was slowly eroded, snow falling on snow. The world doesn’t end with a bang, but with a whimper. Slowly, slowly, it ends as slowly as we built it. What the actual fuck.

7. Additional Resources

So as anti-climatic that might be, that's it. A somewhat biased, incomplete recollection of Hermitcraft r/place, once said to be like the morning newspaper. This is the end. Phew! :D

I cannot stress enough that this is not comprehensive. In fact, I doubt any summary of r/place of any community can be 100% comprehensive. There were simply too many people involved. This is the best I can do and I apologize for any mistakes, wrong information, and other important stuff I might have omitted. I know I left out some stuff that I remember, and there is way more stuff that I never knew of. This is also from the perspective of a GMT timezone person with weird sleeping schedules (I slept at 5am and woke up at 1pm), so dates/times might be inconsistent.

This is why I invite everybody to add onto this post if you want to correct something or simply add your experience! :DD r/place is a community effort, it makes sense for this post series to be a community effort too. I'll link some resources/ posts below:

2b2t and Hermitcraft's alliance by Nell

Hermitcraft Timelapse from r/Place 2022 by Yirggzmb

The complete Hermitcraft (+ most of MCC) r/place time-lapse ft. Hermitgang by cassberry

Hermitcraft Subreddit Discord (check out #rplace in the archived section at the bottom)

Stuff that happened in MCSR corner by subspace-bubble

jayqueenofhugs sending asks to riacte about MCSR updates [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

r/Technoblade and r/Banano by xpoolboy

Martyn Inthelittlewood putting blush on Red King by sarioh

There is of course way more but I'm too tired rn haha.

Once again a huge thank you to everybody who read this entire thing and put up with my nonsense for the past week <3 This experience is certainly unforgettable and I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of it. I feel like I might have more to say but words fail me. So here's my goodbye for now <3

Hope this series has been helpful (and I'm not spreading too much misinfo haha)! Maybe r/place will come along in 5 years. Maybe I'll be there. Maybe I won't.

But for now, this is the present. Our past erased (but preserved), our future unknown. Thank you to everybody who joined me on this fascinating journey! <3