(Warning: There will be mild spoilers for Not for Broadcast. I want y’all to read about my journey. However, I also want as many people to play this game blind as possible. It’s GOAT material — just trust me!)
So, I want to open this piece about Not for Broadcast by talking about the main Big Bad in the Mass Effect franchise, the Reapers. (Big spoilers for a main tool the Reapers use in the Mass Effect series.) The Reapers are these massive, mechanical ship-alien-squid hybrids — don’t ask, it’s sci-fi. They believe they’re the rightful evolution of the universe, all other races are inferior/flawed, etc. The most interesting weapon in the Reapers’ arsenal is their ability to Indoctrinate unsuspecting beings.
In the Mass Effect series, “Indoctrination” isn’t just simple “mind control.” …Well, it ultimately is, but the way it works is the important part. Once a Reaper indoctrinates you, you don’t immediately believe their goals are “correct.” No, part of the act is taking the personality base of a person and tweaking it slowly. You begin as yourself — your own thoughts, feelings, emotions, motivations. Gradually, you shift in favor of what the Reapers want, all while “retaining” what you believe to be your own set of convictions and ideals.
Nobody ever even realizes. By the time they could come close to understanding the depths of the manipulation, it’s already too late. The damage has been done. The Reapers won. With that established, we can now pivot to one of the most important games I’ve ever had the honor of playing: Not for Broadcast.
‘not for broadcast’ knew how to sink its hooks into me
Not for Broadcast was the third game I ever reviewed professionally, and it was the first game I awarded a perfect score. It’s an FMV game where you assume the role of Alex Winston, a studio director of National Nightly News. Your job is simple: you’re in charge of production. While a news broadcast is ongoing, you’re the guy in the booth making all the fun decisions. Further, you decide which camera angle to cut to, you run ads at the appropriate time, and you censor any sudden instances of profanity.
There are many wacky, outrageous characters your station will host. But the most important part of the gig is that you’re now in charge at the conclusion of a landslide election. Advance, a political party led by a straightlaced lawyer and rowdy television personality, wins decisively over their opposition. They have a grand plan: wealth redistribution, the nationalization of several major corporations, promises of shattering the barriers between the “haves” and the “have-nots.”
The average person was won over by their vision. They even won me over! “Yeah, there shouldn’t be such a major wealth gap! Corporations shouldn’t be private, allowed to do whatever they want and exploit their employees! I can get behind that!” That, my friends, was the moment the Reapers began indoctrinating me.
a decidedly slippery slope
I’m not going to go into too many plot specifics from there as part of it is experiencing it with 100% ignorance. But here’s the other part of Not for Broadcast‘s core gameplay loop: the non-broadcast Visual Novel-esque gameplay where you’re making choices in your day-to-day life. You have a family, insane relatives, and much more to deal with outside of the studio. …I lied, I have to explain the setup for one of the first few minor non-broadcast sections.
Advance’s first act is to take the passports of the wealthy so they can’t flee the country to avoid the whole “wealth redistribution” plan. Your partner, Sam, has a snooty rich relative who comes over to your house in a panic. They beg you — asking to use your passport to flee the country since you bear a striking resemblance to one another. I rejected the idea. They walked off in a huff. I felt good about what I’d done. “Oh, no, the rich will be less rich? How awful!”
What Advance was doing wasn’t wrong! They’re leveling the playing field so everyone can have a fair shot at this lopsided game we call “life”! The administration started asking me to do small, innocuous things during my broadcasts. Run these ads! Be tighter with that censor button! Yeah, yeah, for equity? I’m here for it!
‘not for broadcast’ dropped the hammer on me
Something happens. Something that affected me and my family personally — snapping me out of my obedient stupor. When Not for Broadcast punched me in the gut, it left me on the ground for hours. I sat at my computer, mouth agape, fully back to my senses. All at once, a few terrible revelations hit me in rapid succession.
I could rationalize certain rules and mandates away as being “a necessary means to an end.” So what if it makes some people a little uncomfortable? It’s not like dudes in military garb are going door-to-door and wantonly killing people! Small concessions became bigger violations, and I was too insulated to see it until it was too late. The damage had been done. The Reapers won.
In real life, I always have a hard time reckoning with how people can nod and follow history’s worst dictators and cult leaders. But you rarely see the beginning of the Indoctrination — only the aftermath. Not for Broadcast is a game that distracts you with silly scenarios and hilarious people. But that, too, is only a front. The game knew what I wanted, the world I had desperately wished for. One of equality, equity, and sanity. One of rules and proper punishments rather than a slap on the wrist and a light sentence. It took my hopes and dreams and perverted them, used me.
I always thought I was smarter than that. That I’d never be so easily tricked and manipulated. We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything.
The post ‘Not for Broadcast’ Corrupted Me Into Something I Barely Recognized appeared first on VICE.
The post ‘Not for Broadcast’ Corrupted Me Into Something I Barely Recognized appeared first on VICE.
