Hey there. I’m Simon, one of the writers of our upcoming TTRPG Zone 17. Today’s Dev blog is a bit about the worldbuilding of Zone 17. Specifically, how media has evolved.
Zone 17 takes place around 60 years in the future. Culturally, that is a very long time. 60 years ago, Psycho was seen as groundbreaking and shocking. It was, and it’s still a great film, but to modern audiences it’s surprisingly tame. And while 1960 had many classic films, it also had a lot of forgettable ones.
With that in mind, it seems insane to believe that the pop-culture and media of a world 60 years in the future would not have also evolved. And therein lies the crux of this blogpost. A big of ‘behind the scenes’ worldbuilding on how media has changed in the world of Zone 17, and what people watch.
In the world of Zone 17, most media is consumed via streaming services, colloquially referred to as ‘The Streams’. ** You pay for the privilege of accessing a media corp’s library of media, be it films, TV series, video games, or books. Owning actual copies of a piece of media (whether it’s in the form of a computer file or an actual object) is for collectors and enthusiasts.
** also called The Bits or The Feed.
Most media is consumed by use of individuals’ links and PADs (portable electronics). Large displays exist in select bars, hotel lobbies, and homes. Music, short vids, sport replays, and the like account for over 60% of media consumed. Another 25% is composed of live vlogs and interviews. Concerts and live performances account for about 10%.
There are two distinct overarching categories of media: Craft and ‘The Als’ (as in the name). Craft media refers to things that have been almost entirely human-made. Somebody went out and shot the footage, or wrote the words, or whatever. There’s usually a grading body that assures purchasers that, yes, what you are watching was the product of a human being. Craft media is generally seen as superior, and there’s a fair amount of snobbery about it. Of course, Craft media ranges from multi-million credit productions to Z-grade schlock. Just because it’s Craft doesn’t mean it’s good.
‘The Als’ are SI (Synthetic-intelligence)-Generated media. They are often derisively called ‘Proleslop’, because they’re formulaic dreck targeted towards the lowest common denominator. The better quality Als usually have a team of human writers to help fluff up what the machine spits out.
There is a distinct tribalistic rivalry between ‘Crafties’ and ‘Als’. Crafties view The Als as absolute dreck, and the people who consume it as drooling morons who have ruined culture. Als view Crafties as stuck-up snobs who would rather watch something crappy because it was ‘made with human hands’ rather than something fun made by a machine.
Movie theaters still exist but are not the primary way films are consumed. The movie theater of 2083 is more like a restaurant or bar; you go in, sit at a table, and have a beer and nachos while watching classic cinema. Most theaters run older titles and tend to pander to the Craft demographic. Many also have gimmicks. A popular one is the ‘multiscreen’ model, where every patron is given a set of polarized lenses and an earpiece. Depending on the chosen lenses, a different film appears on screen. Others utilize 4D effects (such as moving seats, scents released into the theater, or simulated weather) to add a layer of experience only available in theaters.
Interactives (also called ‘interacties’ or ‘interacts’) are one of the newer forms of media. Like a film, they have liner narratives. Unlike traditional films, they are linked with VR sets, which can be used to change the perspective of a scene. While watching an interactive, you can switch between different characters viewpoints, listen to different character’s internal monologues, or inspect details of a scene, as if you were in a video game. Two people who watch the same interactive may come away having watched two separate films.
Interactives are expensive to produce, and can trigger motion sickness, which has prevented them from supplanting traditional films.
POPULAR MEDIA FRANCHISES OF 2083
A Line in the Sands: Widely hailed as one of the best Eurasian films of all time, A Line in the Sands follows Private Sergi Maslov through the horrors of the Russo-Sino War. Famous for its subtitle writing, dark themes, and bleak ending, it is often called the Come and See of the 21st century.
Cooking with Harry: The story of Cooking with Harry begins when Harry Dowsing, an unemployed alcoholic from Canberra, started filming the culinary war crimes he would whip up at 2 in the morning and posting them on the Commonwealth internet. Harry’s bumbling charm and utter ineptitude gained a following of devoted ‘fans’, to the point where he became more popular than many actual cooking shows. Harry Dowsing is now a successful entertainer, although his cooking skills have not improved in the slightest. If anything, they’ve gotten worse.
Deathkiss: The Deathkiss franchise is one of the most popular Al film series of the past 20 years. Known for its cheesy dialog, gratuitous violence, and awesome action set pieces, the scripts are churned out by an AI and then workshopped by a team of writers. The series revolves around Donna Deathkiss, a former North American Union supersoldier turned mercenary, who spends each film gunning down bad guys, foiling evil plans, and generally being a badass.
Gendarme Raphael: The Gendarme Raphael series helped pioneer the interactive format and remains one of France’s most popular media franchises. It details the investigations of Raphael Lafayette, the stalwart and duty-bound officer who confronts the worst humanity has to offer in his quest to uphold justice. Known for a level of interactivity beyond most, the Gendarme Raphael interacts have multiple endings, dependent on what clues the viewer picked up on during the experience.
From the Darkness: One of the most controversial films of the past few decades, From the Darkness follows the daily life of Theodore Rawls, a low-functioning serial killer. Opinions are starkly divided. Some see it as director Harvey Bernardo’s masterpiece, a pitch-black comedy about the failures of the justice system. Others view it as gratuitous and sick, an excuse to follow around an unlikable protagonist as he murders innocent people. The controversy certainly isn’t helped by persistent rumors that much of the footage is real, and that ‘Theodore Rawls’ was an actual murderer the director filmed. Bernardo has denied these rumors, but curiously left the studio after the film's release for unclear reasons...
Megacity Avenger: A series of action movies produced in Hong Kong, the Megacity Avenger series are some of the most popular Craft films in the world. Their stylized fight scenes, smart writing, and intense action has won them accolades across the world. Each Megacity Avenger film is a self-contained story, usually with a different protagonist. The most recent entry in the franchise, Megacity Avenger 8: The Qingdong Connection is currently being shot outside of Nanjing.
The Show: The world’s first AI-Generated animated sitcom. It has been on for over 50 years, and has become something of a litmus test for taste. The Show is infamous for its ‘humor’, the product of an algorithm trying to spit out things it thinks humans will find funny. What results is absolute surrealism, such as the following clip from episode 51,097:
“Barry, help me move my prosthetic leg into the garage”
“I am unable to do that Wanda”
“It is because you are lazy Barry. You sit on the couch all day and drink beer without raising our children.”
“No, it is because I have become a toilet”
Barry pulls his own handle and folds in on himself with a flushing noise.
“Well, that just happened”
*laugh track*.
Opinions on The Show are deeply divided. Many Crafties see it as the nadir of AI generated content, cheap, unfunny slop that gets a laugh out of idiots. Als see it as absolutely hilarious due to the sheer oddity of it. And some Crafties defend it as a masterpiece of Dada.
Thin Blue Line: A popular series, Thin Blue Line is broadcast live via police bodycam. The current season is in Shanghai, and has already seen multiple shootouts, 12 car chases, and 3 acts of police brutality.
Zone-Eye: A low-budget ‘documentary’ series produced by Mondo Studios. Ostensibly it captures the everyday life of the people of Zone 17. In reality it’s a series of sleazy exploitation films designed to milk the Zone’s reputation for squalor and violence. A typical Zone-Eye documentary is made by having a film crew go out into the wastes and film whatever is interesting. If there’s nothing interesting, the crew stages stuff and claims it as authentic footage.