Introduction
 | |
| Mass Effect | |
| Name | Mass Effect |
| AKA | r/masseffect |
| Description | Fans of the Mass Effect video game series |
| Subreddit | MassEffect |
| Discord | https://discord.gg/bdNCDXkJg7 |
| Website | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect |
| Artwork | N7 Logo, Normandy SR2, Tali’Zorah, N7 Armor Stripe, N7 Helmet, Garrus Vakarian, Mass Relay |
Mass Effect is a series of third-person shooter/role-playing games that first debuted in 2007. The first three games in the series are well-known for the protagonist Commander Shepard and the many choices the player could make throughout the trilogy in terms of with whom Shepard allied, which crew member(s) Shepard romanced, and controversially, the way in which the game ended.
The Mass Effect subreddit has over 300,000 members and is still very active thanks to the remastered trilogy release in 2021 titled the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. When the decision was made on Reddit to attempt to create art on r/place22, the Mass Effect on r/place discord was formed. At the peak of r/place22, there were over 400 members working together to create and maintain the art of Mass Effect and the small communities that Mass Effect helped to protect. Countless others followed the updates on r/masseffect and became known as "Keepers" by the discord community in reference to the alien species that silently maintains the Citadel; center of galactic civilization and arguably the most important location in the Mass Effect trilogy.
At 9:36 am EDT on April 1st, 36 minutes into r/place22, a post was made by u/fars3757 on r/masseffect about attempting to recreate the N7 logo that was on r/place17. Based on a black line that had already started to form, the choice was made to start the top left corner at coordinate 801,984.
12:15 pm EDT was when u/transam617 created the discord after informing the subreddit members of what all had transpired for r/masseffect on r/place17 and how much negotiation was required to create and maintain the art.
Artwork
N7 Logo
- Main article: N7 Logo
First Iteration
The black outline went up quickly for the logo, but it quickly became apparent that there were other groups attempting to utilize the same space. After sending dozens of messages to the users that were placing those pixels, the owners of the Pig, the Duck, and the Carrot reached agreements to relocate with our assistance and protection going forward. By 1:00 pm EDT the N7 logo was complete and focus shifted to maintaining it while attempting to help allies. In the mean time, our Keepers expanded the left black border to 6 pixels wide and would not let anything else be built there though we tried multiple times to let other groups take that space.
First Expansion
With expansions came additional colors and the decision was made at 9:43 pm EDT on April 2nd to add a 3D effect to the logo with shading. Shading didn't start until around 10:00 am EDT April 3rd but was completed fairly quickly.
Second Expansion
The newer reds seemed to match the actual N7 logo much better than the original so both of them were changed to reflect this. The entire logo shifted up and the border was adjusted to one pixel to make room for the Normandy SR2 below to satisfy the terms of an agreement that was reached with Italy.
At 11:21 am EDT on April 4th, the reds were updated with the newest additional color option to match the N7 armor stripe and be more accurate to the color of the real logo.
Tali’Zorah
- Main article: Tali’Zorah
The Struggle Begins
At 4:07 pm EDT on April 1st, the black space to the left of the N7 logo seemed well under the control of r/masseffect so the group decided to put the character Tali'Zorah from the trilogy in that space. Initial plans went on hold in order to focus on the Eminem invasion and resumed at 4:45 pm EDT. After fighting the Keepers of the black for three hours, a new location was chosen around 7:51 pm EDT. Finally around 10:30 pm EDT, a fully-formed Tali appeared. The next few hours were spent adjusting her to fit around the St. Louis Blues logo and choosing the final colors for her suit and mask. After the downfall of the Blues around 8:00 am EDT on April 2nd, Tali was again adjusted to fit the new space.
Cleaning Up
One source of amusement for the discord was the amount of times that griefers would place a brown pixel under Tali and make it look like she had defecated. There were also many attempts to put eyes on her mask that the group had to fend off for the rest of r/place22.
Mass Relay
- Main article: Mass Relay
Creating the Relay
A Mass Relay is a device in Mass Effect used for rapid interstellar travel. While much more complicated than the simple design created for r/place22, it was a good representation of the game art. The relay went up much quicker than Tali, beginning at 12:56 am EDT on April 2nd and being completed at 1:10 am EDT.
Red, Blue, or Green?
There were slight changes over the remainder of r/place22, and the center color changed often, possibly as a reference to the controversial ending of Mass Effect 3, but discord members decided to keep the center color closer to the blue of a regularly operating relay in the trilogy.
Normandy SR2
- Main article: Normandy SR2
Southern Expansion
When the first expansion occurred, speculation that there would be another expansion to the south began. The decision was made to refrain from trying to make more art on the first expansion and focus on the area that was being maintained. A second expansion would open the canvas directly below the N7 logo and make another piece of art easier to defend by being in the same area. That was when discussion of the Normandy SR2 began.
Design
The design for the Normandy SR2 was created at 3:25 pm EDT on April 2nd. It remained largely unchanged throughout r/place22 once the background color was chosen at 10:17 pm EDT the same day. At this point, everyone involved was eager to see another expansion so that the plan could come to fruition. There had been very little problems creating the N7 logo so no one expected an issue with building the Normandy. Just after 3:00 pm EDT April 3rd, the canvas did indeed expand and work began.
Paint It Black
A major issue quickly arose. The country of Italy began creating another flag in the area directly below the N7 logo. The Mass Effect team fought to put up the outline for the Normandy but Italy easily overran the area with green pixels. Negotiations to put the Normandy on their flag as art failed. Additionally, work on the Normandy's engines was being undone by the Keepers who kept reverting the area to black. At 4:27 pm EDT, u/redsleepinggrass made the suggestion to let the Keepers extend the black border of the N7 logo to the south to carve out an area large enough for the Normandy and attempt to put it in later. It was the nuclear option because there was no way of knowing whether the Keepers would relinquish the black later, but the order was given and the space started turning black immediately. It wasn't long before black extended to row 1019.
Peace at Last
At 5:44 pm EDT Italy finally returned to negotiations and conceded the rows 1017 and above. The design was adjusted to have less border so that it would fit in this area and work began at 6:12 pm EDT. The N7 logo was moved up and given a smaller border to give the Normandy additional space as well. It was completed within the hour.
N7 Armor Stripe
- Main article: N7 Armor Stripe
Talk first began of attempting to place the N7 armor stripe in the black border to the left of the N7 logo and Normandy around 5:55 pm EDT but it wasn't until well after the Normandy had been completed and shuffling of the canvas had calmed that pixels started being placed at 10:32 pm EDT. It was a risk considering how many other groups had attempted to move into that area since r/place22 began. The Keepers had kept the black without fail. The discord group moved swiftly to place large blocks of pixels concurrently and this time it was a success - the Keepers ceded the black and the N7 armor stripe was formed within minutes.
Garrus Vakarian
- Main article: Garrus Vakarian
The Garrus Vakarian chibi head came together very quickly once enough people were back online on April 4th at 11:00 am EDT. There was some grief concerning the pink pixel for his scar but it was defended until the end.
N7 Helmet
- Main article: N7 Helmet
The initial design was to be the female version of Commander Shepard, but in order to more accurately represent all players, the helmeted version of Commander Shepard was decided on instead. This art began immediately following Garrus Vakarian and was finished within the hour.