It was some of kind dimensional/time travel thing. It would bring you to a small old west town circa 1880, but you landed there dressed in the most ridiculous stereotypical cowboy outfit they could think of. If you didn't immediately catch an ass whoopin', you were lucky, probably be better to just be naked.

Your mind and thought patterns were altered via computer to be that of 1880, so you had no memory of this world at all or the wondrous technological luxuries of our time. You had to start from scratch, find work, or somewhere to hide from all the other folks spending time in Cowboy World. The folks that had been here for years were well established and it was a lot like being in the mob. It was brutal and deadly, kind of like the real old west was.

There were real guns, horses, booze, saloons, dynamite, deadly wild animals, horrific disease with little to no cure, tribes of Indians that would kill you on site, etc. You know, all the fun, and some did have fun, they had dreamed of living in a place like this, but Cowboy World was no joke. If you died there, you died here. Kaput. So you had to watch your ass all the time. Many who went to Cowboy World even for the night sometimes never came back.

If you were lucky, you would arrive out by the lake where you could camp out if you had a short sentence, it was also the only place you were going to find a bath or much water at all. It was the place that most new arrivals started out, so the violent gangs from town would often make night raides on the newbies. Most would flee into the mountains and either die of thirst or get killed by the tribes that patrolled there.

Most were starving, desperate and would attack you on sight for anything you might have to survive. Staying out there was possible, but life was no picnic. You're best bet was to go into town and either join a gang, which would be for life, and you'd be part of it anytime you were sent to Cowboy World, or you could try your luck at opening a business or saloon. That was usually a deadly choice since the gangs ran everything and they would force loyalty to one or the other anyway.

As in prisons, men and women were separated, so there were no women anywhere in Cowboy World, only dirty angry dudes. So, you had to watch your ass, literally. The random abductions and cornhaulings were rampant and brutal, some were forced to labor in the Haulin' Camps for the higher ups in Cowboy World. At least you had access to food, water, and regular baths there.

The entire thing was also constantly televised here in the real world. There was a channel dedicated to nothing but Cowboy World all the time, so people would tune in and watch the drama unfold in real time with real people. So many were killed on a daily basis, many more died of disease and hunger. But people sure were entertained, the show had some of the best ratings on cable! Someone's making money.

The population was decreasing and crime sank to an all new low. Infraction to Felony, any of it would land you in Cowboy World. Just 24 hours there could mean death, or worse. There was a similar world for women and even one for misbehaving children, which wasn't as deadly, but they also suffered greatly. One kid that stole a car was sentenced to living alone on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean for a month. They had to survive on their own. Some made it out okay, others, well their bones bleached in the sun.

If a woman committed a capital offence, she was just simply dropped into the middle of Cowboy World during the day. You can imagine what happened. Yuck.

And there were many capital offenses, especially for women, along with harsh laws for the population, and most people had been to Cowboy World, or the female version, once or twice. It made for great storytelling and people took great pride in surviving a trip to Cowboy World. You would have a friend one day and the next, you would never see them again. None need ask, we knew where they went. You just got used to it.

The rich elites profited from this brutal system and they celebrated it like you would the Academy Awards. The brutal bosses of the Cowboy World gang were brought out and given awards for beating the odds, they had won. The award was release, all the money you could ever need, and a place in the club of the ultra elite who ran their own gangs out here in the real world. So it was possible to beat the game, but most just ended up dead. They would occasionally run special contests to see who could make it longest in Cowboy World. These people would be paid if they could survive. But almost all of them died. It was all televised of course. You don't want to get voted off the Island in this reality TV show.

It was like Sunday Night Football for people, they would pack in to bars and clubs to watch it all unfold, even knowing that at really any time it could be them in there fighting for survival.

They didn't seem to care.

Oh well, I guess.