Down the Rabbit Hole

The first in what I hope to be a miniature documentary series on internet rabbit holes. This first one is about Digital Homicide Studios, a delusional two-man game studio and the insane actions they take when they can't handle criticism.

Since there are two videos, Down the Rabbit Hole is now technically a series! This episode is about Christian Weston Chandler, who became infamous online when he was discovered by online forums. I almost didn't do this one because I know how controversial the subject matter is, but I knew I'd have to do it eventually and I didn't want to seem like I was jumping the shark ten videos down the line. The research was the hardest part not due to a lack of information, but because there's such a glut of it; this rabbit hole goes far, far deeper than what I covered. Much of my research began at sonichu.com, so I'd be remiss if I didn't thank them; the level of detail they achieve there is unreal. Most of the images and video comes from there, as well, since that's where literally everything available about Christian has been archived. Again, all of the music I used is done by Kevin MacLeod, who makes all of his music available under creative commons at incompetech.com

I'm a huge fan of the SCP Foundation, enough that I GMed a campaign based in the setting and made audio files like the one in the trailer for it. In order to save on time, I unfortunately had to skip over the roleplaying tradition that's still alive and well today in the SCP community.

This was easily the most difficult video to make so far. Information on the brothers was often contradicted between sources, and the pool of images I could use was absurdly small. There was exactly one image of Homer Collyer that I could find. This also was the most difficult video emotionally. I slowly became attached to the brothers while I read. and I nearly broke down crying while doing my research. Still, it's a beautiful and fascinating story, and I hope that I did it justice.

I freely admit that I'm an outsider looking in on this subject, and I tried to remain at least mostly objective about this topic and refrain from making too many qualitative statements. I also admit that this was a very shallow look into a very deep topic. If you're interested in really understanding it as an art form and not just a phenomenon, please please please watch Wolfenstein OS X's documentary on it, link's in the description. On a side note: I love Vaporwave, and I think it's one of the few true art movements that has come out of postmodernism.

A brief history of Star Citizen, from its inception to present day, covering its progress, its controversy, and its relationship with the media.

This episode examines one of the strangest and most terrifying elements of European history: the Plague Doctors.

The first part in a two-part documentary on the history of anime and otaku culture, starting all the way back at World War 2. Coming in part 2: the Otaku and Hikikomori.

Part two of the two-part episode on anime and otaku culture. This episode shows the way that otaku culture originated and began guiding anime, as well as the strange and disturbing prevalence of hikikomori going into the 21st century.

On Amazon, an egotistical self-published author cannot let go of criticism against his book, and his anxiety spirals into obsession.

After an early YouTuber finds unexpected fame and turns his hobby into a career, his poor decisions and his fanbase slowly dismantle him.

When an enigmatic author starts posting mysterious comments across Reddit, a small group of people track and follow his work.

The history behind one of the most beloved websites of the early internet from its inception to the present day with a special guest appearance from video producer PetSimmerJulie.

Henry Darger is responsible for crafting 30,000 pages of writing and approximately 300 original pieces of gorgeous (and sometimes terrifying) visual art, all of which was discovered only when he was on his deathbed in Chicago. However, few know his name and even fewer know where he came from. So who was this elusive, enigmatic figure?

Across YouTube, thousands of strange videos featuring the "Finger Family" nursery rhyme have appeared over the last few years, with poor animation and low-quality sound while racking up millions of views, sometimes hundreds of millions.. But where do they come from, and how are they so popular?

As the world recovers from World War II and fears of overpopulation swell in America, one researcher begins constructing horrifying experiments to model it.

On August 8th, 2016, I uploaded a video about Digital Homicide Studios, a universally reviled game developer, assuming their strange behavior was finished. I was wrong.

In the late 1990s, a man named Gene Ray creates a baffling new theory delivered through an unintentionally humorous website. But when people start sharing it as a joke, things go horribly awry.

When an Indian guru seeks to build a commune in the deserts of Oregon at the height of the New Age movement, he faces stiff resistance, and his subordinates resort to extreme tactics.

When an early internet reviewer receives remarkable fame, he turns it into his career, but finds that his greatest obstacle is his own behavior.

In the early 2000s, when connecting with other fans of Final Fantasy VII, a young person is invited to live with others in the fandom, but things quickly turn dour.

As gaming videos are gaining popularity online, a group of friends decides to make their own and find remarkable popularity, but their greatest obstacle becomes themselves.

In the late 2000s, a man begins relentlessly sharing his custom operating system, but when people take notice of the man's strange behavior, they become witness to the degradation of his mental state.

In various places of modern culture, the enigmatic, crank-powered hurdy gurdy can be found, creating strange, droning music. But where did it come from?

When an early YouTuber finds unexpected success and viewership, he struggles to maintain it as he gradually alienates both his viewership and his friends.

When the owner of a new cat cafe fights criticism online, her confrontational and uncompromising attitude threatens to destroy the business before it opens.

During the mid-1980s, a discovery is made about Austria's wine that threatens to destroy the country's entire industry.

After an electrical engineer enters the field of computer chess, his creation captures the attention of the world as he attempts to defeat the world chess champion.

When a group of forum users decide to play a colony simulation game together, their plans go awry and the game rapidly falls apart. Special thanks to The LP Archive for making this video possible and facilitating the hours of enjoyment that Something Awful's Let's Plays have brought.

When a group of modders band together to create the ultimate bug fixing patch for Skyrim, the popularity of the project draws scrutiny and backlash that only grows as time passes. EXTRA INFORMATION: At 10:36, the mod shows the incorrect attribution. It should read "Acquisitive Soul Gems mod and screenshot by bluedanieru" Also, a clarification: at about 30 minutes, it is mentioned that the post was made in 2014 but the date on the post shown is 2017. This is because the shown image is of a repost of the original 2014 post.