Gamers' Dreams

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This article details some recent research into lucid dreaming, a dream where the dreamer knows it is a dream and can often control the dream, and possible connections to gaming. It's a fascinating read.

Personally, I've only had two lucid dreams in my life (that I remember), and I woke from both shortly after I realized it was a dream, but I managed to gain control of both dreams for a short time. Another interesting association they found was that gamers are less likely to have violent or aggressive nightmares and are more likely to have dreams in the 3rd person (though rarely have the detached feeling others do when they have them). Thinking back, I can't remember any nightmares I've ever had other than the embarassing kind. Action dreams, sure, but nothing I would even qualify as unpleasant, much less a nightmare.

How about the rest of you? Do ever you dream lucidly?

 

Lucid dreams - rather common
Nightmares - not uncommon, sometimes violent, not usually aggressive
Dreams in 3rd person - none that I can recall

I don't actually 'game' (when did 'game' become a verb anyway?) that much either, so I'm probably statistically irrelevant.

 

I almost never remember my dreams. If I get woken up in the middle of one, that is about the only time I will remember it. When I was a kid I regularly remembered my dreams. Not sure where I lost that.

 

Never had lucid dreams, but I can't recall having nightmares either (excluding those from my childhood)

 

Pretty much the same with me. It has been years since I last time remembered a dream after waking up. I remember sometimes remembering the dream only a few minutes and then I'd wonder what I was thinking about, so for some reason I seem to remember them only briefly. I don't think I've ever really seen any actual nightmares and never dreamt anything violent. My dreams have in the past been twisted versions of real life events or situations, they can sometimes be somewhat disturbing though.

 

Regarding nightmares, now that I think about it, I had an awful lot of those when I was a kid. They were really bad when my parents were going through their divorce. It was not, shall we say, a civil break up, and as a 7 year old kid, my entire world was pretty much turned upside down. I had many, many nightmares during this period. Sometimes I would even wake up from them screaming in terror. One in particular that I still remember related to my neighbor at the time, a very young girl (probably around 3 years of age). I don't remember what we were doing, but I do remember that I ended up alone with the girl, whose name was Lauren. Once we were alone her eyes turned pitch black, and she took on something of a demonic appearance. I woke up yelling "Lauren's eyes! There's something wrong with Lauren's eyes!"

Once I remember actually dreaming (if you can call it that) while I was awake. Again this was during the divorce. Me, my mother, and my sister were all sleeping in the living room of our home at the time, for reasons I can't recall. The 4 walls of the room we were in were covered with frightening images (monsters, vampires, I think there was even a frankenstein monster). I watched in terror most of the night as these images moved around, not doing anything in particular, except keeping me afraid. I guess I eventually fell asleep, but that was one... long... night! I'll never forget it.

It's been years since I've thought about any of this stuff.

 

Only happened to me a few times (2-5). Two I'm fairly sure were lucid, the rest not so much. One involved turning my dog into an elephant (long story involving a rather deep river). In another I was running away from something, couldn't figure out what so figured I might as well fly. Woke up right away. At times I recognize "scenery" in a dream (from another dream) or figure out that a dream is repeating so I know how to end it / what to do, but I think that's fairly common.


I tend to remember dreams when I've had enough sleep, wake up, then fall asleep again.
Sometimes they're the stuff I wish for, other times stressful future events exploring how far Murphy's law goes (exams I've passed years ago, but are just hours away, stuff gone wrong).

Other times it's basketball. I keep dreaming I'm going back to train it with my old team. Dream whole games, practices.

Then there are tornado dreams. They're in a separate league. Thankfully rare, but closest thing I have to irrational nightmares. (I freak out and there aren't even any tornadoes around here!)

I've dreamt of RPs and had a few full blown adventure dreams (magic, guns, space combat) but never in 3rd person (seeing the person) though often I know I'm not me in such dreams (if that makes sense).

 

Never had a lucid dream but I know I dream in color.

Basketball dreams ... my wife has those, they're particularly violent as she goes for the ball. Fortunately she also talks during basketball dreams which wakes me and allows me to seek shelter before impact with a hand or foot. I remember one night hearing her call out (quite loudly) "Help me! Help me!" But I'd seen her play and knew she was just calling out for defensive help ... so I moved to the edge of the bed.

 

I seem to be in control most of the time, except when the dream becomes "narrative" such as watching an adventure movie in first person with myself in the main role. Those can get rather entertaining, and I usually wake up with a big smile afterwards.

Also, some of my dreams reveal me stuff I couldn't possibly know IRL. For example, I "met" my friend with his secret girlfriend in a dream long before I met her IRL. Much to my astonishment, my picture of her was extremely detailed and absolutely correct as well. Not to mention how freaked my friend was when I gave a detailed description of his secret love right after the dream.

 

I remember having a really chilling nightmare when I was a kid, and my mom telling me it was just a dream, so nothing bad could happen. "Your mind controls the dream."
So the next day i was having a similar dream about a haunted house (lame, i know), and I tried to take control. When something scary happened, I imagined I was flying away. When a monster flew after me, I imagined having big claws that tore it apart. At this point, I think the narrative bubble of the haunted house burst, because I was no longer scared. All that remained, was me being aware I was asleep, so it forced me to wake up. That's my theory anyway.

That's my only lucid dreaming experience. It was disappointingly short. It also happened before I had ever played a computer game, so my answer may distort the poll results.

I also remember a wonderful dream in which I was aware that I controlled everything, only I wasn't necessarily aware I was asleep. I flew around most of the time, and there were dinosaurs. My mom woke me up, and I was very angry with her. It left me with a feeling of an unfinished story. But when I think back on it, I had probably been looping the same 'flying scene' in my head for hours, so the 'story' wasn't progressing anyway.

The most influence games have ever had on my dreams, is after I play too much of a game. Even something relaxed & unhurried like Civilization has caused me to wake up with a fright, similar to a falling sensation. I got it from chess once too. When a game occupies your thoughts so much, that it interferes with getting to sleep, it's a clear signal to take a break!

But most of the time, I can't remember if I had a dream.

 

I'm the exact same way - I hardly ever remember my dreams anymore, but I used to regularly remember them when I was a kid and through adolesence. My wife has very vivid dreams, and she does talk, and I have been kicked awake at night.

The funniest one - in retrospect was when my wife sat straight up and yelled: "It's on me! Get it off! Get it off!" I thought it was a spider or something, so I start pulling off the covers searching for it (not realizing she's still sleeping). I said, "Where? What is it?" At which point she yelled, "It's a great big f'ing snake!" At that point, I realized she was dreaming.

 

I remember many of my dreams, as nightmares used to occur for me several times a week as a kid. I was the youngest of 5, so my two older brothers used to like to torture me with scary stories, knowing full well it would scare the living crap out of me later in the night. The nightmares stopped when I hit my teens. Which is also when I started gaming. Connection?

 

I suspect that the type of gaming may matter. Years ago I had a lot of Doom dreams (the original) while playing that game, but I've never had any isometric CRPG dreams.

 

I’ve had dreams where I knew I was dreaming, but I can’t say I actually took control of the dream.

I also have a number of recurring dreams. Sometimes I’ll have one of those dreams, and in it I’ll think something along the line of “well, I’ve had a dream like this many times before, and here it’s happening for real”. Which I suppose is the exact opposite of knowing that I’m dreaming – I actually explicitly believe that I’m not dreaming.

 

I also, almost never remember my dreams. However, I do know that there are times that I take control of the dreams, but the memory fades as I wake.

 

I'm not sure if I've ever had a lucid dream. I know I've had dreams where I at some point took control, but to me I wasn't really sleeping anymore at that point, more like snoozing. It's somewhat similar to when I'm snoozing on the couch/bed/whatever and my mind goes into free association mode and my thoughts go off into the deep end, but I'm not really asleep yet.

Funnily enough, I read about this yesterday as well, and last night, while I was dreaming recalled this bit of info. That's about the only thing I remember of that dream, though. This was one of those dreams were I took control at some point, but again, I'm not sure that classifies as lucid dreaming. It felt more like day dreaming, anyway. Like being awake and just letting your mind wander.

I can't recall ever having had a nightmare. Or at least not the way my sister described them as having - waking up bathing in sweat from some primordial fear. I do wake up bathing in sweat occasionally, but that's related to high ambient temperatures rather than any kind of dream. I've had unsettling dreams, back when I was a kid, but then stubbing my toe was unsettling back then too.

 

My dreams are too vile to share. My nightmares are worse -- they increased in frequency after my divorce, and to be honest losing even more access to my kids features prominently in my dreams even now.

 

My most annoying dream is that I am dreaming that I am sleeping and can't wake up. Basically a dream about not being able to wake up. It is really frustrating.

 

Really? That's actually my most common gaming dream. Of course, it's also my most common gaming experience so that may help. I've also had occasional RPG-esque dreams in first person, but not as many.

I actually had a (brief) lucid dream last night. I woke up before much happened, though. Why do I always wake up almost as soon as I realize it's a dream?

 

I won't pretend to understand the psychology behind it, but perhaps you wake up exactly because you realize you're dreaming. Once you realize it's a dream, your brain might kick in, and you wake up.