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Year Zero (game)
Encyclopedia
Year Zero is an alternate reality game
(ARG) based on the Nine Inch Nails
concept album of the same name
, its expected follow-up, and a possible accompanying film or television project. Although the album was released on April 16, 2007 in Europe, and the following day worldwide, the game has been underway since roughly February 12, 2007 and was expected to continue for approximately eighteen months. The game was created by 42 Entertainment
, the same group responsible for the Halo 2
promotional alternative reality game I Love Bees. Trent Reznor
, frontman and sole member of the band, has called the game "a new entertainment form". In response to criticism regarding the promotion of the album, Reznor stated:
Reznor said that Year Zero is a concept album
, "could be about the end of the world", and marked a "shift in direction" in that it "doesn't sound like With Teeth
." The 2006 tour merchandise designs featured overt references to the United States military
, which "reflects future directions."
In an interview with Gigwise.com
, Reznor stated that the concept behind Year Zero was partially inspired by his feelings toward the Bush administration
. He further explained,
To this end, the storyline of Year Zero borrows heavily from such well-known dystopia
n fiction as George Orwell's
Nineteen Eighty-Four
(government surveillance), Aldous Huxley
's Brave New World
(use of drugs to subdue the populace), Ray Bradbury's
Fahrenheit 451
(large-scale censorship and uniformism), and Yevgeny Zamyatin's
We
(synthesis of church and state). Specific plot elements bear a resemblance to the Philip K. Dick
short story Faith of Our Fathers
, including hallucinogens in the water supply, an oppressive, heavily militaristic state, aggressive government monitoring of the populace, and a venerated entity which manifests in many forms. In keeping with the dystopian theme, Year Zero takes place in 2022, the same year as the 1973 film Soylent Green
.
and Seattle. In response, the government granted itself emergency powers and seized absolute control on the country. The U.S. government is now a Christian fundamentalist theocracy, maintaining control of the populace through institutions like the Bureau of Morality and the First Evangelical Church of Plano. Americans must get licenses to marry, bear children, etc. Subversive activities can result in these licenses being revoked. Dissenters regularly disappear from their homes in the night, and are detained in federal detainment centers and sanitariums, if not executed.
The government corporation Cedocore distributes the drug Parepin through the water supply, making Americans who drink the water apathetic and carefree. There are several underground rebel groups, mainly operating online, most notably Art is Resistance and Solutions Backwards Initiative. The First Evangelical Church of Plano is a fundamentalist Protestant Christian church which is favored by the neo-conservative government.
Amidst all of this are increasing sightings of what is labelled "The Presence", which manifests as a pair of massive ghostly hands and arms extending down from the sky into the ground. Despite early attributions of The Presence to drug-induced mass hysteria, it soon becomes clear that it is a physical phenomenon capable of being recorded on video and film. Theories vary on the real cause of the appearances, but the prevailing opinion appears to be that the hands represent God or some other equivalent supernatural force. On February 10, 2022, a government official named Doug reports that sightings of the phenomenon are rapidly being reported from all over the world. The sequence ends with a broken message announcing the appearance of The Presence over the United States Capitol Building. The message cuts off suddenly, implying the end of the world.
Working to prevent this are the Solutions Backwards Initiative, which is a group of students, professors, and computer experts who devise a successful means with which to send information back through time using quantum mechanics
in order to prevent the dystopian future (and eventual apocalypse) they live in from ever occurring. The websites and music of the Year Zero alternate reality game are implied to be part of the information packets sent back through the wormholes.
and Rolling Stone
have cited fan site The NIN Hotline, forum Echoing the Sound, fan club The Spiral, and NinWiki as sources for new discoveries.
Radio reported that "Reznor admitted he's already in talks about a movie version of his upcoming album a concept piece, with part two scheduled for next year." He had earlier noted Year Zero as "part of a bigger picture of a number of things I'm working on. Essentially, I wrote the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist." Reznor has commented that he is currently more interested in a television project than a film project. He has stated that he has a producer and has met with writers.
On August 10, 2007, Reznor announced that they would soon be taking the concept to television networks in an attempt to secure a deal. "We're about to pitch it to the network, so we're a couple of weeks away from meeting all of the main people, and we'll see what happens."
Since first announcing his plans for a television series, progress has slowed, reportedly due to the 2007–2008 Writer's Guild strike
. Despite this, Reznor has reported that the project is "still churning along".
of The Los Angeles Times
praised the album and game concept as "a total marriage of the pop and gamer aesthetics that unlocks the rusty cages of the music industry and solves some key problems facing rock music as its cultural dominance dissolves into dust."
In 2008, 42 Entertainment won two Webby Awards
for their work on the Year Zero game, under the categories of "Integrated Campaigns" and "Other Advertising: Branded Content". 42 Entertainment was also awarded three medals in The One Show's entertainment award ceremony, including a gold medal in the "online gaming" category, a silver in the "music" category, and a merit award in the "online branded entertainment" category.
Alternate reality game
An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
(ARG) based on the Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
concept album of the same name
Year Zero (album)
Year Zero is the fifth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on April 17, 2007, by Interscope Records. Frontman Trent Reznor wrote the album's music and lyrics while touring in support of the group's previous release, With Teeth...
, its expected follow-up, and a possible accompanying film or television project. Although the album was released on April 16, 2007 in Europe, and the following day worldwide, the game has been underway since roughly February 12, 2007 and was expected to continue for approximately eighteen months. The game was created by 42 Entertainment
42 Entertainment
42 Entertainment is an American company based in Pasadena which specializes in creating and producing alternate reality games . The company was founded in 2003 as an independently-owned, creative content and interactive agency under the name 4orty 2wo Entertainment. The company started with a...
, the same group responsible for the Halo 2
Halo 2
Halo 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. Released for the Xbox video game console on November 9, 2004, the game is the second installment in the Halo franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved...
promotional alternative reality game I Love Bees. Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
, frontman and sole member of the band, has called the game "a new entertainment form". In response to criticism regarding the promotion of the album, Reznor stated:
Premise
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
, "could be about the end of the world", and marked a "shift in direction" in that it "doesn't sound like With Teeth
With Teeth
With Teeth is the fourth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on May 3, 2005, by Interscope Records. The album was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and long-time collaborator Alan Moulder. It was Reznor's first original studio album since The...
." The 2006 tour merchandise designs featured overt references to the United States military
Military of the United States
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
, which "reflects future directions."
In an interview with Gigwise.com
Gigwise.com
Gigwise.com is an online music magazine that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets, and a community forum. Founded in 2001, the magazine is based in the United Kingdom....
, Reznor stated that the concept behind Year Zero was partially inspired by his feelings toward the Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
. He further explained,
I really wanted to focus on something that was at the forefront of my consciousness which is, as an American, I'm appalled by the behavior of our government, the direction that it has taken and the direction that it's taken everyone else in the world and its arrogance... I decided to write an essay about where the world might be if we continue down the path that we're on with a neo-con-esque government doing whatever it pleases...
To this end, the storyline of Year Zero borrows heavily from such well-known dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n fiction as George Orwell's
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
(government surveillance), Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
's Brave New World
Brave New World
Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
(use of drugs to subdue the populace), Ray Bradbury's
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury. The novel presents a future American society where reading is outlawed and firemen start fires to burn books...
(large-scale censorship and uniformism), and Yevgeny Zamyatin's
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin was a Russian author of science fiction and political satire. Despite having been a prominent Old Bolshevik, Zamyatin was deeply disturbed by the policies pursued by the CPSU following the October Revolution...
We
We (novel)
We is a dystopian novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin completed in 1921. It was written in response to the author's personal experiences during the Russian revolution of 1905, the Russian revolution of 1917, his life in the Newcastle suburb of Jesmond, and his work in the Tyne shipyards during the First...
(synthesis of church and state). Specific plot elements bear a resemblance to the Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
short story Faith of Our Fathers
Faith of our Fathers
"Faith of Our Fathers" is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick, first published in the anthology Dangerous Visions . It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1968....
, including hallucinogens in the water supply, an oppressive, heavily militaristic state, aggressive government monitoring of the populace, and a venerated entity which manifests in many forms. In keeping with the dystopian theme, Year Zero takes place in 2022, the same year as the 1973 film Soylent Green
Soylent Green
Soylent Green is a 1973 American science fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer. Starring Charlton Heston, the film overlays the police procedural and science fiction genres as it depicts the investigation into the murder of a wealthy businessman in a dystopian future suffering from pollution,...
.
Plot
The story takes place in the United States in the year 2022, which has been termed "Year 0", by the American government, being the year that America was reborn. The U.S. had suffered several major terrorist attacks, apparently by Islamic fundamentalists, including attacks on Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and Seattle. In response, the government granted itself emergency powers and seized absolute control on the country. The U.S. government is now a Christian fundamentalist theocracy, maintaining control of the populace through institutions like the Bureau of Morality and the First Evangelical Church of Plano. Americans must get licenses to marry, bear children, etc. Subversive activities can result in these licenses being revoked. Dissenters regularly disappear from their homes in the night, and are detained in federal detainment centers and sanitariums, if not executed.
The government corporation Cedocore distributes the drug Parepin through the water supply, making Americans who drink the water apathetic and carefree. There are several underground rebel groups, mainly operating online, most notably Art is Resistance and Solutions Backwards Initiative. The First Evangelical Church of Plano is a fundamentalist Protestant Christian church which is favored by the neo-conservative government.
Amidst all of this are increasing sightings of what is labelled "The Presence", which manifests as a pair of massive ghostly hands and arms extending down from the sky into the ground. Despite early attributions of The Presence to drug-induced mass hysteria, it soon becomes clear that it is a physical phenomenon capable of being recorded on video and film. Theories vary on the real cause of the appearances, but the prevailing opinion appears to be that the hands represent God or some other equivalent supernatural force. On February 10, 2022, a government official named Doug reports that sightings of the phenomenon are rapidly being reported from all over the world. The sequence ends with a broken message announcing the appearance of The Presence over the United States Capitol Building. The message cuts off suddenly, implying the end of the world.
Working to prevent this are the Solutions Backwards Initiative, which is a group of students, professors, and computer experts who devise a successful means with which to send information back through time using quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
in order to prevent the dystopian future (and eventual apocalypse) they live in from ever occurring. The websites and music of the Year Zero alternate reality game are implied to be part of the information packets sent back through the wormholes.
Media attention
The concept behind the Year Zero alternate reality game, as well as avid fan participation in the game, has caught the attention of the media numerous times; USA TodayUSA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
have cited fan site The NIN Hotline, forum Echoing the Sound, fan club The Spiral, and NinWiki as sources for new discoveries.
Film and television project
In March 2007 Kerrang!Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
Radio reported that "Reznor admitted he's already in talks about a movie version of his upcoming album a concept piece, with part two scheduled for next year." He had earlier noted Year Zero as "part of a bigger picture of a number of things I'm working on. Essentially, I wrote the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist." Reznor has commented that he is currently more interested in a television project than a film project. He has stated that he has a producer and has met with writers.
On August 10, 2007, Reznor announced that they would soon be taking the concept to television networks in an attempt to secure a deal. "We're about to pitch it to the network, so we're a couple of weeks away from meeting all of the main people, and we'll see what happens."
Since first announcing his plans for a television series, progress has slowed, reportedly due to the 2007–2008 Writer's Guild strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
. Despite this, Reznor has reported that the project is "still churning along".
Critical reception
Many reviewers of the Year Zero album also commented on the accompanying game. Ann PowersAnn Powers
Ann Powers is an American writer and pop music critic.Powers has been writing about popular music and society since the early 1980s...
of The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
praised the album and game concept as "a total marriage of the pop and gamer aesthetics that unlocks the rusty cages of the music industry and solves some key problems facing rock music as its cultural dominance dissolves into dust."
In 2008, 42 Entertainment won two Webby Awards
Webby Awards
A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
for their work on the Year Zero game, under the categories of "Integrated Campaigns" and "Other Advertising: Branded Content". 42 Entertainment was also awarded three medals in The One Show's entertainment award ceremony, including a gold medal in the "online gaming" category, a silver in the "music" category, and a merit award in the "online branded entertainment" category.
See also
- AuthoritarianismAuthoritarianismAuthoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
- CorporatocracyCorporatocracyCorporatocracy, in social theories that focus on conflicts and opposing interests within society, denotes a system of government that serves the interest of, and may be run by, corporations and involves ties between government and business...
- Counter-terrorismCounter-terrorismCounter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
- EvangelismEvangelismEvangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
- Fundamentalist ChristianityFundamentalist ChristianityChristian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
- Mass surveillanceMass surveillanceMass surveillance is the pervasive surveillance of an entire population, or a substantial fraction thereof.Modern governments today commonly perform mass surveillance of their citizens, explaining that they believe that it is necessary to protect them from dangerous groups such as terrorists,...
- Nationalism in the United States
- NeoconservatismNeoconservatismNeoconservatism in the United States is a branch of American conservatism. Since 2001, neoconservatism has been associated with democracy promotion, that is with assisting movements for democracy, in some cases by economic sanctions or military action....
- TheocracyTheocracyTheocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
- Totalitarian democracyTotalitarian democracyTotalitarian democracy is a term made famous by Israeli historian J. L. Talmon to refer to a system of government in which lawfully elected representatives maintain the integrity of a nation state whose citizens, while granted the right to vote, have little or no participation in the...
- USA PATRIOT ActUSA PATRIOT ActThe USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...
External links
- Official Year Zero page at NIN.com
- Year Zero Case Study at 42 Entertainment's website
- Year Zero Research at the unofficial NIN Wiki