I think if you might get a better idea if you watch the way the 2017 r/place unfolded. When everyone really had no idea what to do with the canvas, there was mostly just random pixels and solid colors. It took a while till someone started making pixel arts, and subreddits dedicated to the making of each art in order to maintain them. Then when those arts eventually overlapped and get fought over, it took a while more for the idea of shared art as compromise to emerge. You could really see the evolution of people's ideas about the canvas and what to do with it over time, whereas this time around everyone are already familiar with the rules and "best practices" so it can seems arbitrary from the outside looking in.