Exactly! I’m really into games like Zelda and Okami that give you this huge world to explore, because the dream worlds in my head are so vivid… plus playing the role of the “God” in Okami is pretty cool. You control the world much like you might control elements of a dream.
But like you said, there are so many other reasons, too. I lucid dream to find out more about myself, to exercise creativity, find out how far I can go manipulating my own consciousness, and (believe it or not) to actually get myself to sleep at night. But part of its appeal for me is, like you said, that you can do all these cool video game type things in your own head. And it feels so real!
I guess video games and lucid dreams are both alternate realities… maybe that has something to do with the advanced spatial intelligence, too. Maybe we’re more used to moving things around in our heads, tweaking things without having to hold them in our hands.
I’m a gamer, but not a very avid one: I haven’t felt the need to upgrade consoles since the PS2, and the DS that I used, to play The World Ends With You, Professor Layton, Scribblenauts, and Phoenix Wright, is borrowed.
Lucid dreams are becoming very few and far between for me. I might have video game dreams where I both feel “in” the game doing game-y stuff, and “out” of the game holding the controller, but somehow I’m still in first person (and have never clued in to why my point of view is split like that.)
In the string of video-game themed ND’s I’ve had lately, no matter how pixellated or 2D the original medium was, my dreams tend to smooth them over and flesh them out. I don’t know if that’s a step cloesr to lucidity because of heightened vividness, or a step away because maybe if they remained shoddily rendered, I’d be able to wonder, “Why is he so blurred and boxy? ”
Actually, I have that, too! I was so surprised the first time I looked at some people’s dream journals online and realized that they don’t usually see themselves in their dreams. I had always been disconnected somehow from my dream self. Kind of like seeing your player in a game, like you said.
i am a huge gamer but i have yet to have a lucid dream last more then a minute, and i have only had 3 of thoese so far
right now i am playing Alan Wake, and i had an “Alan Wake”-ish dream last night and about 10 seconds before i woke up i relizied it was a dream, so im hoping for another tonight, i might be able to get one finally
It’d be interesting to know if this affects different kinds of gamers in different ways. For example, maybe people who mostly play platformers and adventure kind of games have a better grasp on dream exploration, whereas shooter gamers are faster and more focused, and RPG players have this, puzzlers that or the other…
I find this topic quite interesting. I myself have totally considered what it would be like to venture off into a video game world during a lucid dream. Maybe since lucid dreaming and playing video games have to with exploring, we can see the connection between them? I don’t know if that makes sense but, there you go.
(I’m currently playing Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories.)
I play video games every once in while, and i can definitely agree with the fact that dreams are like videos, same action, adventure, and as someone mentioned you usually see yourself in your dream like you see your character in a video game. It wasnt what i was thinking when i found LD4ALL, but i definitely based some LDs on video games.
This is actually really interesting, I just had my 3rd lucid dream last night and had recently moved in with my brother, my bros house is the only place where I had my 3 lucid dreams and is also the only place where I play xbox because I had lent him it, when I went back home and before I moved in I never had any lucid dreams.
When I first heard about lucid dreaming, I had compared it as a mix of Grand Theft Auto along with Prototype when I was explaining it to my friends, in GTA you can go anywhere you want and just about do anything you want but in the game the physics are similar to reality, and in prototype you can jump buildings etc…
I know that sometimes elements of games end up in my dreams… two nights ago in a dream, I explored the world of Okami with a friend of mine. Exploration and adventure is definitely a big theme for me. And come to think of it, a lot of the games I play are open-ended adventuring ones, too!
What about you guys? Do you think the types of games you play might influence the way you dream?
I’m the same. For me, one of the biggest attractives of LDs is just to explore. Just walk around (or fly I guess XD) and see things, go to places…it’s inside your head, so there’s no end to it! You can constantly see new amazing places. I love Zelda games, or games where you do this kind of “walking around” stuff, apart from fighting or solving puzzles. There’s something very beautiful about exploring your own head while you dream.
I’m a hell of a heavy gamer to day spanning the whole range of games. But mostly Nintendo.
I had a lot of 3rd person dreams for a while, until I decided for them to stop.
And yes, part of the LD appeal resides in the “game-like virtual personal world” kind of possibility.
And I’ve been wanting to visit the world of Okami while lucid for a while now. I’ve already used the paintbrush as a dream power though. ^^
I think video games actually help to get lucid dreams. When I play video games often, I usually dream about them. So I do a RC whenever I play it, think or talk about that game. And when I find myself playing that game in a dream, I do a RC and get Lucid.
RCing when you see anything to do with the game? Sounds like a good idea to me! And for the third-person dreams, they’ve started to stop for me, too. In fact, they’ve been in decline ever since I decided I liked first-person dreams better. Funny how the subconscious picks up on things like that.
Also, having the Celestial Brush as a dream power sounds awesome! I’m definitely trying that the first time I have high lucidity in a dream Thanks for the idea!
Sounds about right; I wrote a psychology paper on the topic, based on a study that talked about the correlation. But in my own experience? Not so much. For me, it depends more on trying to lucid dream, and having my mind saturated with the subject. Case in point: four years ago I’d have them several times a week, but the last time I can recall having a lucid dream was probably months ago.
…and that’s regardless of whether I play video games these days! But I sure do have video game inspired LDs, you betcha. Mostly Mario stuff. And my mind creates awesome new worlds sometimes—and that would be great for exploration in lucid dreams. I should look into that.
I’m heavy gamer during the week and when I first read about lucid dreaming I was interested to add elements of games to my dreams.
Once I melded Talisman online (MMORPG I played at the moment) Gold miner (flash game I found somewhere) and real world (mostly around my house) to one awesome game in which I was main character with a group for gold hunt. We first found few smal gold chunks but after a while we found huge gold chunk. Then I woke up. Too bad I couldn’t go lucid. It would be awesome.
Here’s the article for anyone who’s interested:
I’m really into games like Zelda and Okami that give you this huge world to explore, because the dream worlds in my head are so vivid… plus playing the role of the “God” in Okami is pretty cool. You control the world much like you might control elements of a dream.
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I was so surprised the first time I looked at some people’s dream journals online and realized that they don’t usually see themselves in their dreams. I had always been disconnected somehow from my dream self. Kind of like seeing your player in a game, like you said.
And for the third-person dreams, they’ve started to stop for me, too. In fact, they’ve been in decline ever since I decided I liked first-person dreams better. Funny how the subconscious picks up on things like that.
Thanks for the idea!