Year Zero (game)
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| Year Zero |
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 an alternate reality game by |
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Year Zero album |
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Year Zero is an alternate reality game based on the Nine Inch Nails concept album of the same name, its expected follow-up, and a possible accompanying film or television project.[1] Although the album was released on April 16, 2007 in Europe, and the following day worldwide,[2] the game has been underway since roughly February 12, 2007 and is expected to continue for approximately eighteen months.[3] The game was created by 42 Entertainment, the same group responsible for the Halo 2 promotional alternative reality game I Love Bees.[4][5] Trent Reznor, frontman and sole member of the band, has called the game "a new entertainment form".[4] In response to criticism[6] regarding the promotion of the album, Reznor stated:
The term "marketing" sure is a frustrating one for me at the moment. What you are now starting to experience IS "year zero". It's not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record - it IS the art form... and we're just getting started. Hope you enjoy the ride.[7]
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[edit] Premise
Reznor said that Year Zero is a concept album,[8] "could be about the end of the world", and marked a "shift in direction" in that it "doesn't sound like With Teeth."[7] The 2006 tour merchandise designs featured overt references to the United States military, which "reflects future directions."[7]
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,
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...[9]
To this end, the storyline of Year Zero borrows heavily from such well-known dystopian 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 1972 film Soylent Green.
[edit] 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 Angeles 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. The Church has a "neighborhood cleansing program" for vigilante church members. Feeding the evangelical fundamentalism is a phenomenon known as The Presence, a huge, paranormal hand that descends from the sky. According to the website I Am Trying To Believe, The Presence is a mass hallucination brought on by Parepin.
According to the ARG, the corporate, government and subversive websites were transported back in time to the present by a group of scientists who were against the authoritarian government, and sent these Year Zero websites to the year 2007 to warn the American people of 2007 of the impending dystopian future, to prevent it from ever forming in the first place. Indeed, Art Is Resistance is a presently active online group dedicated to preventing the dystopian future depicted in the ARG.
[edit] 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 Today 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.[10][11]
[edit] Film and television project
Kerrang! 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."[1] 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."[8] 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.[12] 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."[13]
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".[14]
[edit] Campaign
[edit] Critical reception
Many reviewers of the Year Zero album also commented on the accompanying game. Ann Powers 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."[15]
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".[16][17]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Kerrang discusses movie possibility with Trent Reznor. Kerrang! (2007-03-06). Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
- ^ nine inch nails: current. NIN.com (2007-02-05). Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
- ^ RIAA Goes After NINE INCH NAILS Fans Over Deliberate Leak Campaign. Blabbermouth.net (2007-04-03). Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
- ^ a b Reuters (2007-04-02). Cryptic Web sites build buzz for Nine Inch Nails. CNN. Retrieved on 2007-04-06.
- ^ 42 creates viral campaign for Nine Inch Nails. digitmag.co.uk (2007-02-14). Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
- ^ Jay Shukla (2007-03-26). Nine Inch Nails - Pretty PR Machine. STV. Retrieved on 2007-04-08. “In appropriating the methods of the PR companies to promote his own art, Reznor is not only leaving himself open to attack, he is raising serious questions about control, manipulation and authenticity.”
- ^ a b c The Spiral (registration required). Retrieved on 2006-02-05.
- ^ a b NINE INCH NAILS Mainman On New CD: 'I Wrote The Soundtrack To A Movie That Doesn't Exist'. Blabbermouth (2007-01-03). Retrieved on 2007-02-09.
- ^ Gregory, Jason (2007-03-26). Trent Reznor Blasts The American Government. GIGWise.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
- ^ Matheson, Whitney (2007-02-15). NIN's web of intrigue. USA Today. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
- ^ Elizabeth Goodman (2007-02-15). NIN fans = marketing team's dream. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
- ^ leviathant (2007-08-10). I hate Contact Music. The NIN Hotline. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
- ^ Adler, Heather (2007-08-14). Nine Inch Nails Ready Apocalyptic Year Zero TV Show. Dose. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
- ^ Johnson, Neala (2008-04-02). "Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor approaches the future a free man". Herald Sun.
- ^ Powers, Ann. Nine Inch Nails creates a world from 'Year Zero'. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2007-06-25. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ Webby Nominees – INTEGRATED CAMPAIGNS. Webby Awards. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
- ^ Webby Nominees – OTHER ADVERTISING: BRANDED CONTENT. Webby Awards. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
[edit] References
- Year Zero Cast Study. 42 Entertainment. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
- Frank Rose. "Secret Websites, Coded Messages: The New World of Immersive Games", Wired, 2007-12-20. Retrieved on 2008-01-08.
[edit] 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
