Ugandan Knuckles, VRChat – an in-game meme that involved using Knuckles parody avatar (one of Sonic’s characters), forming tribes on VRChat, and speaking in broken Ugandan dialect to troll other players. It took online lobbies in just two weeks, going from funny, to unbearable, to racist.
Strategy & Tools
GregZilla, a YouTuber who recorded a review for the “Sonic Lost World” game, put a parody of Knuckles at some point of the video, but it was the Internet community that turned it into a full-blown meme later on.
Ugandan Knuckles meme grew fast in a 100% organic manner. It was created within an online community and spread with the help of YouTubers that posted funny videos – but all the growth was possible without any penny spent.
Ugandan Knuckles viral meme on VRChat was posted to YouTube by accounts that already had a following. This allowed them to get the first thousands of views, which for YouTube’s algorithm are a factor to promote the video organically to others. More video views in the first 24 hours help you land in the recommended section.
All the videos with Ugandan Knuckles viral meme were pushed organically to a broader audience this way.
The meme originated on December 23, which is the day before Christmas Eve. That’s a time when many people are already home, preparing for Christmas but also have more free time – for playing, too.
The first Ugandan Knuckles tribe originated in a VRChat lobby at a time when many people looked for online interaction. This turned out to be one of the ways. Or should I say – de waes.
VRChat’s popularity picked up just before the Ugandan Knuckles gained popularity – close to Christmas. This trend could have an influence on Uganda Knuckles meme spreading, but that works both ways – the peak interest in the platform could’ve been influenced by the knuckles swarming lobbies.
Also, the knuckles could’ve been the reason why many people actually lost interest in VRChat, but the history shows, after this enormous boost, VRChat kept growing steadily over the years, since its first release in 2017.
A large portion of the communications around Ugandan Knuckles happened on Reddit, on the active meme and gaming boards. That gave life to later videos and the general movement that everyone hated later on.
There is no simple answer to that: GregZilla comes from the USA, but the Ugandan Knuckles viral meme was inspired by an Ugandan movie – “Who Killed Captain Alex.” That's where the “I kno de wae” catchphrase came from.
The Ugandan Knuckles viral meme was rather controversial. Mocking Ugandan accent and clicking noises could seem racist to some but many players took it further, using knuckles avatars with watermelon or linking it with Ebola virus, which is by all means racist.
Another aspect was ruining the experience for other players. At the peak, clones of Ugandan Knuckles swarmed lobbies and harassed other players so often that people started to ban anyone wearing that avatar.
There are a few reason why something so unusual gained so much attention:
Psychology
People tend to do something just because everyone else seems to be doing it. There were more and more videos with Ugandan Knuckles viral meme posted, and others wantedq to be part of the activity.
People believe in their group’s superiority. While going into the Ugandan Knuckles characters, they acted as a tribe that had fun at the cost of other players.
Sometimes social proof works the opposite. At first, Ugandan Knuckles viral meme was fun, but it died as people started to call it racist. Even though the comeback was planned for 2019, that didn’t happen, really.
People value something more if they feel it belongs to them. The meme was created by a community but it also required the community to collaborate and act in a certain way – that made the meme more ‘theirs’. They played an active role in it.
Window of Opportunity
Sparking an idea in community can bring positive results, which is why the meme got so popular, so fast. As soon as the commitment was lost – with the negative comments of them being racist – the initiative died as fast as it rose to become famous for the short period.
If you want to go viral, you can start with your community to give it a spark, and then fuel the fire by riding what’s trending. That tactic, although organic, worked for Ugandan Knuckles and it seems that it might work in other cases. Making something, an idea, that others see as worth spreading – that’s a completely different topic.
Devour your competition
with the wittiest Marketing there is!
*$0 to $30M in 9 weeks case study in the first email
Explore Cognitive Biases in Marketing
