(Fifth) World Problems Wiki



Greetings man, woman, demigod, metaphysical being, lamp, hive-mind, sentient Higgs boson, mass of writhing appendages, malevolent godlike AI, abstracted figment of your own imagination, or whatever else you might or might not be. If you have no idea what you're looking at right now, I'll explain it like you're five. What started out as simple parodies of "First World Problems" has grown into a massive (and, for most people, quite immersive) art project.

How it Started
Well first you'll need a bit of a history lesson about the "Four Worlds Model". You probably know about the first and third worlds. The first world consists of the rich countries on any mortal planets (ie Earth), while the third consists of the impoverished countries of the same universe. Maybe at some point you asked "but why isn't there a 2nd World". Answer: There is.

The idea of numbered worlds was actually created during the Cold War to visualize the different blocs that Earth was divided into. The 1st being the democratic bloc, the 2nd being the soviet bloc, and the 3rd being everything else. Though Communism fell, ex-soviet countries are universally accepted as being 2nd World. Sometime after the original model was created, someone proposed the concept of a 4th World, representing nations that aren't officially recognized such as Native Reservations or the Sakha Republic.

But what does that have to do with reddit? There is a popular subreddit built around a meme known as "First world problems", where people dramatize random inconveniences that the privileged experience. Various parody subreddits were made off of it, including bcworldproblems, skyrimworldproblems, and, second/third/fourthworldproblems. Then one fateful day, a being known as happybadger revolutionized it all with fifthworldproblems, bringing abstract-ness and "dark science" into play. It grew into an extensive multiverse/art project where all could contribute, but it didn't end there.

People began creating more subs for higher numbered worlds, some are completely inactive and irrelevant "number fodder" (such as 61stworldproblems), and others with active and interesting communities (most notably seventhworldproblems).

So what am I supposed to do then?
That's for you to decide! If it pleases, pick a world that's considered relevant in this list, or maybe one that's not for some kind of challenge, it's you after all. Do some RP, and watch the collective plot create itself. Lurk a bit first to ensure that your posts aren't awfully immersion killing (look at the subreddit's "Top" and "New" posts. The first 25 on both should do, you may read more if you're still not sure you get it).

Reddit doesn't require emails to create an account, meaning you can have several alt accounts, and RES keeps switching through them hassle-free. Use this as you like to have alternate characters. Maybe they exist just to better develop your "main", or maybe to join other factions (as having one person in multiple factions is discouraged, considered immersion killing, and also unrealistic in most cases).

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