Video Gamers Have Power Over Their Dreams 308
Ponca City, We love you writes "Live Science reports that researchers say playing video games before bedtime may give gamers an unusual level of awareness and control in their dreams, which could provide an edge when fighting nightmares or even mental trauma. 'If you're spending hours a day in a virtual reality, if nothing else it's practice,' says Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada, who says that hardcore gamers represent the leading edge of immersion in virtual worlds that increasingly has come to define a large part of contemporary entertainment and communication. 'Gamers are used to controlling their game environments, so that can translate into dreams.' One intriguing theory holds that dreams are a sort of threat simulation where nightmares help organisms hone their skills in a protective environment, and ideally prepare organisms for a real-life situation. To test that theory, Gackenbach conducted a study using independent assessments that coded threat levels in after-dream reports and found that gamers experienced less or even reversed threat simulation (in which the dreamer became the threatening presence), with fewer aggression dreams overall. In other words, a scary nightmare scenario turned into something 'fun' for a gamer."
Pfft. (Score:4, Funny)
Have you ever had a dream that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?
Other than testing the number of respawns.
Re:Pfft. (Score:5, Funny)
>> Other than testing the number of respawns.
Praise Buddha for respawns!
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As a Buddhist, I feel I HAVE to reply to your comment.
HaHaHaheeHeeHoHoHo! ROFL
Re:Pfft. (Score:5, Funny)
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Other than testing the number of respawns.
Well, you can always scream for tech support. (wait, wrong movie...)
Re:Pfft. (Score:4, Funny)
I cast Write Ticket (Rank 1).
Re:Pfft. (Score:5, Funny)
If Lawrence Fishburne is nearby wearing a trench coat, I'd close my eyes, cover my ears with my fingers, and chant: "This is a dream, the sequels don't exist" over and over like a mantra.
Re:Pfft. (Score:4, Funny)
If Lawrence Fishburne is there wearing a trenchcoat, telling me he's not sure if I'm ready to see what he wants to show me, and trying to get me to take colorful pills, I'm going to be praying it is a Matrix-sequel dream.
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If Lawrence Fishburne is there wearing a trench-coat, telling me he's not sure if I'm ready to see what he wants to show me, and trying to get me to take colorful pills, I'm going to look around for Gina Torres, after taking the pills.
Re:Pfft. (Score:5, Interesting)
I've had dreams where I wasn't sure. However, if it happens to occur to you while in a dream, there are actually certain exercises that one can do within a dream to attempt to test if you are in a dream or not.
Usually light switches don't really work in dreams. It's hard to read in dreams, letters tend to change or look non-nonsensical; reading something and then looking away for a moment and then rereading it will usually result in the words changing completely. Looking at clocks or watches tends to be much like trying to read. Often music and songs that you hear will change from the normal version.
There are many weird quirks in dreams that really give them away, if one has the presence of mind to actually check them, however thinking to check is the tricky part.
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Re:Pfft. (Score:4, Interesting)
After dreaming for 30 odd years, there're a few things that works every time:
1. light switch. I am those anal freak and hate having a light on when the room is not in use. So even when I am awake I switch lights a lot. I flip switches when I am dreaming also but in the dreams, a on will make the light flicker, just like in Doom. That's when I know I am dreaming and it's all flying from there. I like to fly.
2. ghosts and monsters. When I was a kid, these always scares me but now that I am pretty sure there's no ghosts, whenever I see one in a dream I usually try to have sex with "it". Then fly some more.
3. moving my glasses. I wore glasses since I was 10, and every time I "fixed" (adjust) it on my nose, the view changes a little. You'll know what I mean if you wear one. In the dream, the view doesn't change. In fact, I've had dreams where I had no glasses and still see perfectly clear.
4. flying. I know I can't fly. I try it in real life some time and I don't take off.
You should read more lucid tips on the net, it's wickedly fun. Beats Duke Nukem Forever.... wait..
Re:Pfft. (Score:5, Funny)
I usually just find a dream-bathroom and pee. If my thighs suddenly get really warm, it's a dream. And my girlfriend is very angry.
Re:Pfft. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Pfft. (Score:4, Interesting)
I had a similar issue when I was a child. A recurring nightmare though instead of wetting the bed. I'd know I was dreaming, but I wouldn't be able to wake up. I finally taught myself to instead change the dream however I liked, and in the process that taught me how to wake up. Since then though I've had the same trouble, insomnia and when I do get to sleep invariably the slightest thing will wake me up. There's been more than once I've thought I'd rather just have the stupid dream again, LOL
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That would explain those recurring dreams of a disfigured Jack Thompson wearing a fedora, striped sweater, and finger knives. He just doesn't want us to be prepared.
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Emergency *drill* (Score:3, Interesting)
Not all that surprising really. We rehearse coping with dangerous situations all the time (including public speaking ;-) ), so that when they actually happen we'll be better prepared to handle them.
FP.
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We rehearse coping with dangerous situations all the time (including public speaking ;-) )
Sure, but naked?
I fly in my dreams.... (Score:5, Interesting)
But the key is to become aware that you are dreaming, and that you *can* do anything... It eliminates nightmares.
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I found the easiest way to become aware you are dreaming is to walk somewhere, or flick a light switch. If it takes you only a few moments to go down the block or across the city, or the lightswitch behaves oddly, you are dreaming.
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I used to do that when I was younger, but since I've been a grown up I haven't had any flying dreams...
I could never fly very fast, but I could keep myself up in the air long enough to stay away from whoever or whatever was giving me problem. I basically jumped up and started swimming through the air. Sometimes I'd have a rest up a tree.
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Strange! I have almost the exact same experience in my flying dreams. Getting into the air is like jumping, though sometimes I have trouble doing it at first. Once I am in the air I swim to stay up. However, at times I am able to realize that the jumping and swimming is unnecessary. Then all I have to do is think about it and I can take off with no effort at all.
Most of my flying dreams have another recurring theme in that I talk to people I know while flying and ask them why they can't fly too.
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:D I had a thoery of life, the universe and everything in my head when I woke up one morning. It looked like a guppy ball... gravity, light etc (and some bizzare ones like love), 3 connections to each node.
I knew I had to write it down before my conciousness wipes it out of my head as I wake up.
But to do this, I had to find a pen. And that meant looking. So I reached to the sideboard without looking for a pen...
and knocked it off.
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if you haven't read "The Cyberiad" you should, I know "Cyberiad" seems kinda cheesy, but it was written in the early 70s... )
So...what you're saying...is that it's kinda cheesy?
Not in my experience (Score:4, Interesting)
Usually I just end up dreaming about whatever game I was playing. That's hardly "control."
Re:Not in my experience (Score:5, Funny)
You're not a true gamer until you dream of tetris blocks falling on a regular basis.
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I've never dreamed of Tetris blocks, but I have dreamed of arrows and boulders, which constituted the major hazards of a puzzle game that I used to play.
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I dreamed that the floor of my backyard had disappeared, and in it's place were those giant "bottomless" mushrooms from Mario 64.
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I've also had dreams about a stick-figure game I play called Kingdom of Loathing, up to and including dreams where I meet and have conve
Re:Not in my experience (Score:5, Funny)
Or worse. Being surrounded by brown 'R's and yellow 'c's.
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I've never had Tetris dreams, but after spending 80 hours over spring break doing VLSI (what was I thinking), I did dream about being attacked by colorful rectangular geometry [lsmwww.epfl.ch] and having to make it all fit together to make it stop. Does that count?
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More generally, dreams seem to have, quite often, much in common (in various weird ways...) with the thing on which we were fixated before going to sleep - and it's hard to find many examples (except for one obvious one) of people being so totally fixated on something, just before their sleep, as gamers / late night gaming zombies.
So it doesn't seem weird at all that they will often basically continue; hence "safe" dreams & being the aggresor (around what most games revolve)
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We'll always be together in electric dreams (Score:5, Funny)
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Should I be scared if things like that sometimes turn out accurate, but..."damn, I shouldn't ought to know that!"?
Practicing martial arts did more (Score:4, Interesting)
OK, so this is going to be very corny in a karate kid / Bruce Lee "Enter the Dragon" sort of way, but my nightmares of running away from aggressors while my legs turned to molasses got much better after a few years of studying martial arts. They'd still catch up with me, but then I'd have some things to give to them in return and I'd wake up feeling good rather than miserable.
I probably don't play the right video games, but the dreams induced by L4D are mostly tedious rather than scary. Except when I spawn as the infected. Then I'm absolutely terrified.
Nothing to do with video games (Score:3, Informative)
As a teenager, I used to try controlling my dreams, and it actually sort of worked. I was sometimes able, in my dream, to realize it's a dream and decide about stuff happening in it, or decide waking up. I can't quite remember details now, but I do remember I was fascinated with all that was possible.
Video games didn't exist at the time.
I think this has nothing to do with video games, and everything to do with age and the mental ability and desire to experiment with stuff like that.
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You're kind of a dick aren't you, mate? Your post would have been just fine without the condescending first sentence.
Re:Nothing to do with video games (Score:4, Funny)
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Oh, don't be so hard on him; age shows its toll; it awaits us, too. ;p
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Given the opportunity, I like to take advantage of my dreams.
You know that show where all the main characters have assorted super powers? The name escapes me, but that chinese dude can stop time and basically be anywhere he wants in the blink of an eye, even doing stuff while time is stopped. I like to take that to the very naughty extreme.. All those women in the streets and nobody to stop you from taking a peek or copping a feel. Hell, even running around heavily trafficked streets completely in the buff
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Wow, you're old. [wikipedia.org] Go back to sleep and control some more dreams, grandpa.
I have had many dreams become game-like (Score:5, Interesting)
I admit that gaming and gaming themes have many times infiltrated my dreams. I remember a couple years ago I had an odd dream where there were zombies or something in them, and in the dream I was able to fight them off using powers similar to those of Paladins in games.
However, was I better prepared to handle this strange dream because of the influence of gaming, or did I dream about zombies in the first place because of games and horror films?
Secondly, if dreams are like scenarios that our brain plays out to practice dealing with threats, does that mean that those who immerse themselves in worlds of fantasy in science fiction entertainment (either in the form of television, movies, or games) to the point that they seep into their dreams end up training their brain to practice running through scenarios that are in reality a waste of the brain's time to consider?
Well... a waste up until the zombie apocalypse actually occurs, of course.
Re:I have had many dreams become game-like (Score:4, Funny)
I was able to fight them off using powers similar to those of Paladins in games.
Bubble->Hearth, eh?
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Secondly, if dreams are like scenarios that our brain plays out to practice dealing with threats, does that mean that those who immerse themselves in worlds of fantasy in science fiction entertainment (either in the form of television, movies, or games) to the point that they seep into their dreams end up training their brain to practice running through scenarios that are in reality a waste of the brain's time to consider?
Well... a waste up until the zombie apocalypse actually occurs, of course.
My initial guess would be no, they are not a waste of time. I used to play Everquest quite a lot, and I did have dreams about it. However, what I noticed was that the dreams still involved practical problem solving, or basic fear/survival dreams, or leadership dreams, etc..
Despite the content being fantasy, the human/human interactions and social cooperation elements were based on what you'd find in other situations in the real world.
The brain doesn't really work on generating exact solutions for all prob
Dream worlds (Score:5, Funny)
Dream world of the past:
Unicorns & Fairies
Dream world of the future (or Present):
Unlimited Minerals & Vespene Gas
"Hot. Naked. Elf. Sex." (Score:4, Funny)
No threat.... (Score:4, Funny)
I wonder if the researchers had dream reports like 'Whatever dumbass. Only fags are afraid of dreams you noob. Don't be such a bitch you fag.'
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Yup. (Score:5, Interesting)
Been a lucid dreamer [wikipedia.org] ever since I started playing video games, around 20 years. It changes the nature of nightmares - when dreams are a story you're telling yourself, there's a certain point where you can just go "OK this is too far, it's my turn." The nature of nightmares then becomes indefinite fears, overcoming anxious situations gracefully (or not), and fear of the consequence of one's own actions, as these are fears one cannot just turn the tables on, even if one knows they are fake.
I find this alteration of nightmares is actually much better than the usual boogeyman/hunted dreams in adapting one for modern life. Facing anxiety is a much more important limitation than just getting hurt or hiding from a malicious force - desensitizing yourself to indefinite fears is much more adaptive than desensitizing yourself to monsters or gore.
Also, the expectation of 'fun' from exploration of the unknown is a much better expectation for modern things than it used to be. It really opens up one to learn more than a fear-based experience would be. It's part of why I love to see games being developed - the expansion of people's expectations, the expansion of experience in more people's minds. Books have offered a lot of that - but the exploration has always been new ideas exposed, as opposed to the true sense of open discovery.
Games aren't all good, of course, but I think this is a widely ignored benefit to the mindset that games allow to exist.
Ryan Fenton
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I used to lucid dream all the time, till I tried to manifest something so scary I couldn't control it one night. I only get to lucid dream about once every two weeks now, but that also might be attributed to my lack of gaming, as I've made a severe drop in the amount I'd play.
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I've had lucid dreams even before reading about the concept. I didn't realize initially that it's a phenomenon unknown too many people, I really thought it's common. Anecdotally, yes, I'd agree that I tend to experience more lucid dreams in periods when I'm playing some first-person games.
Something I want to ask though is, are nightmares that common in most people? I see lucid dreaming being mentioned as "nightmare relief" and whatnot. That stuff is rare for me. I have a "bad dream" - which is when I have a
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At least until dreams stop giving you conventional nightmares, like unskippable cutscenes, psychological trauma, herds of lolcats...
++violence; what about porn? (Score:2)
So that settles the debate: simulated violence is good for you.
Obviously that applies at least as much to sex. Right?
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You wouldn't believe how good an Orgasm can be when you control it from your subconscious. It's unlike anything else ever experienced.
that explains my dreams. (Score:4, Funny)
"dreams are a sort of threat simulation where nightmares help organisms hone their skills"
When I was in college, I used to dream in c++. God damn segfaults got me every time.
strange (Score:2)
well this is strange then, I don't remember playing strip-poker.
Highly Recommended (Score:3, Funny)
As a gamer, I've discovered that not only can I control my dreams, but I've actually found several cheat codes that have allowed me to fulfill those dreams in real life. Example: I can cast fireballs from my fingertips in real life, so don't piss me off, ok?
Ob. Pet Peeve: (mis)characterizing all computer games with a rich video element as "videogames". Is WoW, for example, really a "video" game? Is the video the main point of playing the game, the thing that keeps people grinding away at for 30 hours a week or more, for years of their lives? I don't think so. The video component of the game isn't even close to being photorealistic, nor does it try to be...
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What part of "video games" do you take to mean "photorealistic"? It's a medium, not a style.
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> Is WoW, for example, really a "video" game?
No, because it has no clearly defined "win" nor "lose" state; hence a toy. MMORPGs are the fast-food junk-candy dumbed-down version of real games.
--
I've shipped games on DS, PS1, PS2, PC, Wii. What have you "gone gold" on?
E.G. Last Night (Score:2, Interesting)
I had something very much like this happen to me last night. Before going to sleep I had been playing World of Goo as well a dose of the latest Pokemon game (MANCHILD ALERT). I remember my dream last night had something to do with me blowing out the tires on my new car and basically making a wreck of the whole machine. What I ALSO remember is explicitly telling myself, mid-dream, that "Oh well, at least it's just a dream. But it sucks that I have to deal with this wreck until I wake up."
Direct causation? No
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Note to Riddler: Next time, imagine a naked female mechanic magically fixing your truck instantaneously. Invite her back to your place and order a pizza, whereby the pizza-delivery girl shows up at your door step....
Play video games - turn nightmares into wet dreams (Score:2, Funny)
"Live Science reports that researchers say that playing video games before bedtime may give gamers an unusual level of awareness and control in their dreams which could provide an edge when fighting nightmares or even mental trauma."
yeah... and it also provides the ability to get laid!! =D
Makes you wonder... (Score:2, Interesting)
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Well, theoretically, if you could control your dream, you'd be able to hold on to it longer, so while the effects may or may not be diminished by the altered state of awareness, you'd get greater benefit from the extended period.
And as for a correlation between playing video games and having nightmares, probably not. The more I've played video games, the *fewer* nightmares I've had. So, I'd say it's more likely that just like most things in psychology, the effects depend on the exact individual.
Has to be said (Score:2)
This article screams out for an xkcd strip!
Are You Sure That's the Cause? (Score:2)
Holy Shit! (Score:4, Interesting)
I participated in that study! I volunteered for an interview/question period. I was even co-interviewed with Jane by a reporter. That was about... must have been about 3 years ago, since it was after my first year at MacEwan, but before my placement. It's kind of mindblowing to me that she's now publishing results and moving to a new level with the study.
lol (Score:2)
Live Science reports that researchers say that playing video games before bedtime may give gamers an unusual level of awareness and control in their dreams which could provide an edge when fighting nightmares or even mental trauma.
It's a good thing my throat was filled with only reefer smoke as I read that, instead of that big ass glass of chocolate milk, cause you'd have owed me a monitor AND a Model M.
A girl living inside my mind. (Score:2, Interesting)
While I have been a lucid dreamer since age four, I never expected the depth I got out of it during my teen years.
I had a girl named Katie living inside my dreams. Generic cute-girl name aside, she was certainly unique, being rather unlike myself. My waking life was for working on my craft while my dream life was for play. And oh hell did we ever play.
The surprising thing was how authentic the simulation turned out to be.
Time dilation is a wonderful thing when you can make a half-hour REM cycle seem like
Re:Electric Sheep (Score:5, Funny)
so this raises the question, what do electric sheep play?
Whatever they play, they play it baaadly.
(most of this post is plagerized) (Score:4, Informative)
How this differs from lucid dreaming?
Well, I'd predict that the first study suggested that people who frequently played video games were more likely to report lucid dreams, observer dreams where they viewed themselves from outside their bodies, and dream control that allowed people to actively influence or change their dream worlds – qualities suggestive of watching or controlling the action of a video-game character.
A second study tried to narrow down the uncertainties by examining dreams that participants experienced from the night before, and focused more on gamers. It found that lucid dreams were common, but that the gamers never had dream control over anything beyond their dream selves.
What's that you say? I just copied that from TFA? Well if you knew that was in TFA, why'd you ask?
TFA also mentions that the researcher in question was focused on lucid dreams until she saw her son kissing an NES box.
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This is interesting.
For the last dozen or so years, I've been having more frequent "lucid" dreams, where I'm aware that I'm in a dream and have some control over the dream events. I first learned to do it by looking for a light switch in any room in which I found myself during a dream. Once I found the light switch, I'd throw the switch, which would usually turn a light off or on.
It's gotten to the point where pretty often I'm able to fly at will during my dreams, which is handy because a lot of my dreams
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What's that you say? I just copied that from TFA? Well if you knew that was in TFA, why'd you ask?
I honestly had no idea. But now that you told me, I can riff on you for copy-pasta, you karma whore you, while still avoiding the article myself. Thanks! =D
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It differs because you are no Tom Cruise.
Or ARE YOU? oO
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Well, lucid dreaming implies that you are aware that you are dreaming. One can exert control over one's dreams without actually realizing that it is a dream. In the dream they might have abilities or powers that are not present in reality and they might seem completely believable to you in your dream state.
One doesn't have to realize they are dreaming in order to fly in the dream, right?
However, this might imply that a gamer might be more successful in lucid dreaming as well.
Re:Lucid dreaming? (Score:5, Interesting)
Lucid dreaming is where you know its a dream, but in the case of the article, you still control yourself in the dream state without realizing its a dream till you wake up.
I remember reading a paper about this like last year, that said gamers are more likely to be lucid dreamers and I found it to be true, in my case. I played a LOT of video games during my teens, I'd say at least 5 hours a day, averaging about 40 hours a week. Once you get -REALLY- immersed in a game that you can turn off and shut down, it becomes easier to be a lucid dreamer. I haven't had it as much lately, since I stopped playing when I got job, but every month I get at least 2 or 3 fully lucid dreams, and in 99% of cases I can remember my dreams.
Let me describe how it usually goes down for me. You fall asleep. You either wake up in your room, or doing some trivial task you usually do, like laundry. Something slightly odd will happen, and happen either quicker than usual or slower than usual, like a spider scuttling across the floor, or someone walking into the room. This is the first signal, you don't have any real thoughts before this, but now you start remembering everything that happens very clearly. When it comes to a point where you are compelling to do something, perhaps your mother asks you to go to the store, and you leave, something VERY odd will happen. This will trigger the thought process of "This can't be right".
Now this can happen normally in any dream, and often times it does to me. Sometimes this will cause me to wake up, other times I will just have to continue with whats happening trying to figure it out. But the lucid part comes when you go "This can't be right, it must be a dream". Once you realize its a dream, a whole lot of doors open up. You feel like you have conscious thought to do whatever you want. I have trained myself that when I see that first signal, I will go and try something to see if I can trigger the "this isn't right" thought. For me, this involves walking some place, and if it takes 5 seconds to walk down the entire block, I know thats not right. If I flick the light switch numerous times but it doesn't flash properly, I know thats not right. Those kinds of things work for me, they get my mind to realize its a dream.
Now, once you get that power to do whatever you want in your dreams, the next step comes in FULL CONTROL of your dreams, which is very difficult to achieve. I have only ever had maybe 2 dozen fully controlled dreams, but I remember each one of them as though it happened yesterday. This is where its not that you have control of your actions, but you also have control of your surroundings. Times I would think "This is a dream, so why don't I just fly?" And I'd be able to fly. Times I'd be "There is a monster, this is clearly a nightmare. Well if I'm dreaming, give me a weapon", and turn a nightmare into a great experience.
Being a nerd, you can imagine where some of the fantasies led. The sad thing is, its the best I've ever had. I have had some very enjoyable endeavours in the real world, but nothing really relates to the pleasure of being able to do what you want to when you want to, without limitation or inhibition. You can do the things you'd be embarassed about without reconsideration. One day I had the thought of "I have already manifested anything I could ever want. What is to stop myself from manifesting the things I would hate or fear the most?" I was able to see deeper into my fears than ever before. Some things I discovered shocked me so much I didn't want to sleep anymore. Luckily that subsided.
If you want to learn to do this, its not as difficult as it might seem. Video games have been shown to help, or at least statistically. The other thing is a dream journal. Keep a journal by your bed. Every day when you wake up, and you remember a dream, write something down, jot it quickly if you're in a rush. But put it down before you forget. Then when you come home from work and you re-read it, you'll get a flurry of memories.
One thing I've n
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What is to stop myself from manifesting the things I would hate or fear the most?"
Don't you hate it when you manifest a giant squid that attacks your underwater habitat?
HELLO. MY NAME IS JERRY.
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Re:Lucid dreaming? (Score:4, Interesting)
Lucid dreams though are fundamentally conscious dreams. All dreams involve some level of consciousness, or they would not register at all. Many though have very little consciousness. You are not in the dream making it more like a movie, or you are there but you are not really in control. Dreams go through a whole spectrum though through to basically full consciousness, where you are basically fully alert, you are able to think things through, etc. Any dream where you stopped and though things through would be one with a relatively high level of consciousness.
Now of course I am abusing the term consciousness here, because consciousness implies awareness of surroundings and awareness of self (at least to the maximum level self-awareness occurs in the species in question). In such a state, you are aware of yourself mentally, just like in real life, but as far as physical self-awareness you are only aware of your simulated self, and the same holds true for awareness of surroundings.
Technically such a state could be called "lucid dreaming", but you are correct that generally that term is used for dreams that have both lucidity [1] and awareness of being dreaming.
As for gamers though, while I will not dispute the end effect of having more conscious or even lucid dreams, I will dispute the explanation. Gamers don't have more control over the environment. Games often give the player relatively little control over the environment, and have only relatively course grained control over the character compared to the real world. You are not likely to be able to use your empty gun as a melee weapon, or perform many other improvised actions, such as ducking into a locker to hide from an assailant, or hundreds of other things that one might have a reason to try but the programmers never thought about, or decided was not worth implementing.
[1] Here I am using the original definition of lucidity meaning able to think clearly.
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BORING ASS DREAMS!!!
When I had my lucid dreams it was me as a half-man half-tiger creature running around savagely ripping apart my opponents with my claws and hunting down girls.
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Lucid dreaming is where you know its a dream, but in the case of the article, you still control yourself in the dream state without realizing its a dream till you wake up.
There's another kind?
3 hours of videogames before bed every night for 70% of my life must've altered my mind!
But the lucid part comes when you go "This can't be right, it must be a dream". Once you realize its a dream, a whole lot of doors open up.
None of my dreams have that level of realism. I can feel that I'm dreaming, right from the start. I've had some pretty strange dreams, including one where the doorbell rings, I get up, and get some computer parts delivered - but even then I was aware it was a dream.
I have only ever had maybe 2 dozen fully controlled dreams
Almost all of mine are like that. I have complete control over what I do and can do.
I remember when I was really young, I had a sick drea
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I always like reading about other peoples lucid dreaming experiences. However, I would like to point something out. Everyone's experiences can be different, but in my experience, telling people they can't do something, or that it's difficult, rapidly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I know plenty of people who swear that you can't dream in colour, because they never have. And they were told they couldn't, when they were young. Same with all sorts of other dream related stuff, like seeing yourself in a mir
Re:Lucid Dreaming = teh suck (Score:4, Insightful)
Just because there are many quacks that get involved with the subject of lucid dreaming doesn't mean that the entire subject is without interest or merit.
amidoinitrite (Score:2, Insightful)
"Just because there are many quacks that get involved with the subject of Teabaggers doesn't mean that the entire subject is without interest or merit."
You see how fucking stupid you sound right now?
I can play this game!
"Just because there are many quacks that get involved with the subject of String Theory doesn't mean that the entire subject is without interest or merit."
"Just because there are many quacks that get involved with the subject of Medicine doesn't mean that the entire subject is without interest or merit."
"Just because there are many quacks that get involved with the subject of Archeology doesn't mean that the entire subject is without interest or merit."
"Just because there are many
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Re:Lucid Dreaming = teh suck (Score:4, Insightful)
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There's plenty of Grade-A bullshit surrounding the subject, that's for sure. But what has this article got to do with it? Nothing at all as far as I can see.
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"Rebecca Turner is a successful online entrepreneur who created a website to teach people about lucid dreaming, aptly named World of Lucid Dreaming. She's been a regular participant in our discussion forums. After watching her openly share eBusiness tips with other forum members over a period of months, I asked her if I could interview her for my blog, so
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Oh, yeah!? Well, once I dreamed that I was playing World of World of Warcraft [theonion.com] (don't ask me why I dreamed this game existed, or why I wanted to play it). In the game in my dream, my avatar's character had just gotten to level 80, so I decided to have my avatar shut off his computer and take a well-deserved nap, when he fell asleep he started dreaming of playing World of World of Warcraft... Then my alarm went off. I woke up, walked over to my computer, uninstalled WoW, deleted my entire Blizzard directory,
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I resent that generalization; I've never touched the stuff. I would say more that pot smokers have a tendency towards gaming, rather than gamers towards pot.
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How relevant can it really be considering that often in dreams, as far as FPP & TPP goes, you're doing both at the same time...or neither? ;)