I have this idea for a virtual world based on the musical experiences I had in Kingsville Texas around 1984. It’s called South Texas Stomp. Bands like Scurvy Ottto and the Rickets, Special Ed and the School Bored, Low Country, and Electra Glide created an unusual dynamic. The isolated nature of Kingsville created an incubator and produced some engaging music out of these bands.
The entertainment premise of STS is a cross between Second Life, Machinima style movie making, and live performance. A small team of people would create the compositions, basic dialog and story lines, and “palette” for performers. Performers would take these building blocks and design choreography, cinematography, DJ mixing, etc. to create performances that can be capture as audio and video. The final ingredient is the audience including some paying patrons.
The financial aspects of this game have yet to be determined but I don’t believe there is much promise in taxing each viewing or even tracking what is done with performances. Instead, I see micropayments, branding, advertising, and other methods of financing the creative input into the virtual world.
Of course, exactly what is South Texas has to be defined. I decided to split Texas halfway from the top to the bottom. That gives me all of my favorite places: Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and of course South Texas proper. I even get Big Bend and Fort Davis : )
South Texas Stomped
Follow Up:
As it was, I ended up using South Texas Stomp as the title for some music production. Check out http://www.southtexasstomp.com