Imagine a club where you can forget about space and time. Where you can chill with your friends against the backdrop of the setting sun. And where the moon watches over you while you party the night away and make the dance floor combust in a firework explosion of pure joy and body-moving ecstasy. A place where the rising sun is not a hint that it is time to go home again.
Such a place exists. And you can visit it as often as you want.
The last couple of months several nightclubs have opened to the public in Somnium Space, the open, persistent virtual reality world. They’ve made people put on their dancing shoes on multiple occasions, making it quite clear that opening a dance temple (or any type of music venue) in Somnium is one of the many great use cases for this platform.
There are several key features in Somnium’s easy to use Builder tool that make it especially interesting, including but not limited to:
Audio – With the audio component you can stream audio directly to your parcel. You can even setup multiple audio zones, opening up the possibility to divide your venue into sections, each with a different style of music.
It’s already happening that DJ’s stream their music live into virtual music venues in Somnium Space. It’s a great use case, especially in these times with the pandemic. We see an explosion of DJ’s performing live on platforms like YouTube, which is great. But next level is streaming live music into a virtual dance mecca where people party and have fun to the beats of your tracks. No social distancing required.
Video – Video screens allow you to create unique visual expressions for your spaces. You can either upload movies or link directly to movies hosted on for example YouTube.
What would a nightclub be without sweeping, pulsing, flashing strobe lights and other visual effects? Video screens give you everything you need to give your club that unique expression that you are looking for.
360 degree video – This component allows you to place 360 degree video bubbles on your parcel. While a great application is displaying 360 degree art in art galleries, it offers nightclub owners the ability to create spaces where music and 360 degree visuals are mixed in mind blowing experiences.
You have to see it to believe it. The 360 degree image and video bubbles in Somnium allow you to embed 360 degree experiences right into your builds. Such 360 degree experiences are not new as such, but the possibility to enjoy them on a VR platform like Somnium is unique. You can just hop in and out of these bubbles as you go. Imagine the possibilities. Some advice: Make sure to check out Natural Warp’s art if you plan to stream psy-trance into your Somnium nightclub.
Visual Scripting – With visual scripting you can get objects to move without needing any knowledge of programming. Need an elevator? No problem. With visual scripting you can animate a wide variety of objects to make your parcel stand out.
A common application for visual scripting is the elevator, e.g. to bring people to the various floors of your club. However, with this feature you can do much more, including creating unique visual expressions, in part because not only can you animate movement, but also color. And without doubt, future releases will allow you to morph shapes into different shapes. All in all, visual scripting is a great tool for creating magical experiences.
Tablet/Camera – With the in-world camera you can share (live stream) what is happening inside Somnium Space with the outside world.
So it really goes both ways. Music can be streamed from the outside to a virtual venue in Somnium Space and at the same time, the party in that same venue can be broadcasted live on platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Twitch, etc. So people who are not able to join in VR in Somnium Space (or using 2D mode), can still be part of the fun.
NFT tickets – NFT tickets allow you to sell access tickets to whatever experience/event you are creating. It is not fully supported just yet, but this is only a matter of time. Several members have already issued ‘NFT donation/support’ tickets, which will give buyers certain future benefits.
I think you are getting the picture by now. With all these features in place you can not only create an awesome dance mecca with live music streams, you will be able to sell access to the venue as well. It is only a matter of time before we see some established DJ’s doing their sets in Somnium Space. Tickets to those events will sell like hot cakes.
So how do I open a nightclub?
If you want to own and operate a club in Somnium Space, the most important thing is that you get hold of a parcel on which you can build your venue. You can either buy a parcel on the Somnium Space VR market place or rent a parcel from another Somnium Space member. There are plenty of members who are willing to rent out a parcel and for a low fee you will be granted full control. Reach out to members in the #rent-a-parcel channel of Somnium Space on Discord.
As far as building your venue is concerned, you can either build it yourself or hire someone to build it for you. Refer to the #hire-a-builder channel on Discord.
As for the hardware, any modern laptop/PC will do for designing, building and uploading your venue (using Somnium Space’s Builder tool). For the real magic – visiting your build in VR – you will need a VR headset, such as Oculus Rift or Oculus Quest with Link (soon a stand alone Oculus Quest will do). However, it is also possible to use 2D mode. This does not require a VR headset.
I’m a DJ. How do I stream my set?
First of all, if you do not have your own venue in Somnium you want to hookup with a member who has a club. Again, the easiest way is to reach out to the friendly Somnium Space community on Discord.
The community will be able to guide and help you. Once you have found a member who is willing to provide you with a (virtual) stage, you can work with him or her to arrange the (technical) details, promote your event, etc.
Will there be an audience?
Not everyone owns a VR headset of course, but the Metaverse – where people jump in and out (and between) virtual worlds – is the future. Somnium Space is right at the forefront of these developments and offers and amazing, immersive platform for people to socialize, share, build and do business.
But even if you do not own a VR headset, you are not left in the cold. People can join in VR mode, in 2D mode (which doesn’t require a headset) and even watch live streams of events (such as a live DJ performance) on existing streaming platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Twitch.
But the trend is undeniable: More and more people are joining in VR mode. A great testimony is the many builds have seen the light of day in recent months, ranging from art galleries, night clubs, conference venues, movie theaters and museums to virtual offices (of real world businesses), games, homes and more. Daily meetups are taking place as well. People seem generally excited about the platform and the ever growing set of features that allows them to be creative.
We will not be surprised if we – within the foreseeable future – will see venues that have hundreds of people partying to live music, with hundreds or even thousands more joining in 2D and watching live video streams.
Video
In the following short impression video you see a club that uses visual scripting, audio (trance radio stream) and several video screens to create a true party atmosphere.
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