Overview
Individual users can edit the world map on an online canvas through changing any of four trillion square pixels available. [3] Users begin with a limited pool of 60 pixels that they can place, and regain one spent pixel every 30 seconds as the maximum pool size expands the more the user draws. [4] The site also features a leaderboard that shows which country and region host the most pixels. Such rules result in frequent wars between users, where every author tries to finish their own picture, sometimes destroying previous or neighboring images. [4]
Users, by leveling up and placing pixels, accumulate "droplets" – a special currency that can be spent on increasing the pool of pixels, getting more current pixels, changing the user's profile picture or adding a flag of a chosen country to profile. These purchases are beneficial to creating art; when placing pixels in the country whose flag a user has purchased, 10% of their pixels will be restored. [5] There are a total of 65 colours users can choose from, 31 of them being completely free, while other 34 can be bought for "droplets". [6]
The website attracted over a million users in four days, gaining popularity on platforms like TikTok, Reddit and Twitter, especially among residents of countries like Germany and Brazil. Due to the very high amount of concurrent users, the website has experienced many technical issues, that blocked leaderboards and prevented new users from registering, despite allowing already existing users to edit the canvas. [3] By September 3, the first country in the leaderboard was the United States, hosting over 54 million pixels. [7]
On August 27, 2025, the developer of Wplace made a post on Reddit addressing various issues of the platform, including unjustified bans, server downtime, and its "pay to win" model. [8]
Reception
Pop culture
Users actively draw images from well-known video games, soccer, anime, cartoons, music, live-action television shows and web series and internet culture trends such as memes. [9] Elements from video games, anime and cartoon franchises like Genshin Impact , Hollow Knight , Honkai: Star Rail , Kirby , Mario , Persona , Sonic the Hedgehog , Minecraft , Umamusume, Touhou Project , My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Zenless Zone Zero , Blue Archive , Undertale / Deltarune , Pokémon , Death Note , Neon Genesis Evangelion and Ace Attorney are frequently featured on the website. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] Deltarune is one of the most featured franchises on the website, with some sources saying the franchise overruns the site by the amount of artwork related to it present on the website. [12]
Grass Wonder tribute
Following the death of Grass Wonder, the legendary racehorse, fans of Uma Musume: Pretty Derby of Wplace created a tribute to the horse in the Philippines, roughly around San Pablo, with a large mural comprising of a pixel recreation of the character Grass Wonder in Uma Musume, holding a bouquet of flowers against a blue sky backdrop, with the message "Farewell, Grass Wonder". [16]
Wplace was also used as an attempt of fans to communicate with corporations, such as through creating art in the location of the company's offices. [17] Several fans of the series Dragon Age used Wplace to protest disallowing its developer BioWare from creating remastered versions of their games. [9] [18] [19]
Political activism
Artwork featuring transgender culture and advocacy has been documented on the site, particularly in prominent locations in the UK. [20] Notably users started to feature transgender flags near the house of J. K. Rowling due to her previous statements regarding the trans community. [21] [22] Due to the large number of trans flags on the map, the community of the website begun making memes about their prevalence. [20]
On the canvas, in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings, since the release of the website, numerous pixel art works including Palestinian flags, anti-war slogans, several artworks featuring hearts and other works of art were featured as a sign of protest to the Gaza war. [23] [24] In North America, users showed their dissent against Alligator Alcatraz and Mar-a-Lago in Florida and remembrance art on the site of the Jalisco extermination camp, located in Jalisco, Mexico. [23] In South America, various users from Colombia and Peru practiced activism in support of their respective country's claim on the contested Santa Rosa island. [25]
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