Drowning playlist is a youtube playlist of 479 found videogame drowning deaths (note: many since removed from Youtube). This playlist collects an online phenomenon of user-sourced documentation of videogame drownings.
Collected during the 2017 hurricane season, these videogame drownings document the inundation of digital spaces. However, digital water has no true wrecking force. It is only a visual layer, with a timer counting, slowly, one's ability to remain submerged.
Water is, in some ways, a “solved problem” in digital spaces. Which is not to say it is an easy thing to emulate in truth - but if you're looking for a representation of water, you can download the model, the shader, and the behavior; they're often free. After all, what is simpler to construct than a flat plane, animated periodically by the movement of waves, catching the light.
It is fake, of course; the spirit of water has been culled from these surfaces that as often intersect with the earth as to curl to fill it. They have no logic of evaporation, no ability to erode the landscape, and they almost never have a wrecking force. Digital water does not break a levee. Digital water does not pull apart 3d models. Digital water does not pick up environmental toxins. Digital water does not inundate a region while letting another burn.
Digital water is a constant. It is stable; a flat plane, catching the light. It is a moat or a stream, a barrier, a border at the end of the world. It is a repeating animation, a tile, an argument. It is an abstraction, an argument, or an illusion.
Water levels, in video games, have an uncanny calm. There is a magic of breaking a boundary to them, of being inside of a thing. The objects are stained blue, the characters move slowly. They were designed for beauty before danger; but, just like real water, digital water does drown.
Videos in this playlist originally uploaded by Youtube channels MasterOfHyrule, Alex, Old Andrea, Hack Player 7, HURGHT, MainMemory, Amy drown, SerenityWind, Drown Tages, melindanlucario, sirtaja, ghosty121212, BuaiLoveGundam, deathmule, Triforce Link Warriors, Midstick, Dextorin, Aqib Hussain, GameOverRyona, Sonicfan989, rattleman123456, Leshone Jones, Passcety, segaboyable, Jacob Henson, kittenfeminist, DavidXNewton, 100Sc, jhw549, UneseatingKDawg, EminentLeague, Len1million, Nivan Field, Ethan White, Rnastershake, hi hi, Ganelon, box, Sean85793, Robbob T, Wowryona, Eric Velazquez, Drowning Scenes, DEUCE2CON, Haalyle, Kirby7601, GTA .Today, Vaultic, Jake Noobins, Indy The Great, TheLifeofPropane, Role Playing Game (Underwater), Captain Thompy, sonicdrowntages, First Last, Wild Gengar, Kaztalek, SonicFan17 Miles No Friends, Rin Sayomi, ChickenTenderBro, Julienne Kuanken, CrazyTennisman25, Terminator_8464, Aquatic Sparrow, Greeny Yoshi (RockStoneLee19), Rightchoice, SpookyPoops, TheGOOD Kyle, Jesse Launders, Lannet Emia, Blitz Gaming, Paramoure123, mythrilmoth, vampdiaries1826, darkmajikmaker, LEGOIndy333//WhirlPool66, Cosmic Legends, The archive of gruesome video game deaths, Jamie Smith, and Xmoss Gaming.