Gamers Have More Power Than Expected!

[Warped]

....In their Dreams!!! lol

The third-person shooter game "Alan Wake" stars a suspense-thriller author in a surreal, horror novel setting. Credit: Remedy Entertainment/Microsoft Game Studios

Video Gamers Can Control Dreams, Study Suggests

By Jeremy Hsu, LiveScience Senior Writer

posted: 25 May 2010 09:53 am ET

Playing video games before bedtime may give people an unusual level of awareness and control in their dreams, LiveScience has learned.

That ability to shape the alternate reality of dream worlds might not match mind-bending Hollywood films such as "The Matrix," but it could provide an edge when fighting nightmares or even mental trauma.

Dreams and video games both represent alternate realities, according to Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada. But she pointed out that dreams arise biologically from the human mind, while video games are technologically driven by computers and gaming consoles.

"If you're spending hours a day in a virtual reality, if nothing else it's practice," said Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada. "Gamers are used to controlling their game environments, so that can translate into dreams."

Gackenbach first became interested in video games in the 1990s, when she watched her son repeatedly kiss a new Nintendo gaming console on the way home from a Toys "R" Us. She had previously focused on studying lucid dreams, in which people have awareness of being in a dream.

The last decade of game-related research has since yielded several surprises, although the findings represent suggestive associations rather than definitive proof, Gackenbach cautioned. She is scheduled to discuss her work as a featured speaker at the Sixth Annual Games for Health Conference in Boston this week.

What dreams may come

Several intriguing parallels between lucid dreams and video games first emerged when Gackenbach examined past research on games. Both lucid dreamers and gamers seemed to have better spatial skills and were less prone to motion sickness.

The two groups have also demonstrated a high level of focus or concentration, whether honed through lucidity-training activities, such as meditation, or through hours spent fighting virtual enemies to reach the next level in a game.

That encouraged Gackenbach to survey the dreams of both non-gamers and hardcore gamers, beginning with two studies published in 2006. She had prepared by conducting larger surveys in-class and online to get a sense of where to focus questions.

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.

The gamers also frequently flipped between a first person view from within the body and a third person view of themselves from outside, except never with the calm detachment of a distant witness.

"The first time we simply asked people how often they had lucid dreams, looking back over their life and making judgment calls," Gackenbach told LiveScience. "That's open to all kinds of bias, [such as] certain memory biases, self-reported biases."

Gackenbach eventually replicated her findings about lucid dreaming and video games several times with college students as subjects, and refined her methods by controlling for factors such as frequency of recalling dreams.

Mastering the nightmare world

Finding awareness and some level of control in gamer dreams was one thing. But Gackenbach also wondered if video games affected nightmares, based on the "threat simulation" theory proposed by Finnish psychologist Antti Revonsuo.

Revonsuo suggested that dreams might mimic threatening situations from real life, except in the safe environment of dream world. Such nightmares would help organisms hone their avoidance skills in a protective environment, and ideally prepare organisms for a real-life situation.

To test that theory, Gackenbach conducted a 2008 study with 35 males and 63 females, and used independent assessments that coded threat levels in after-dream reports. She 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.

"What happens with gamers is that something inexplicable happens," Gackenbach explained. "They don't run away, they turn and fight back. They're more aggressive than the norms."

Levels of aggression in gamer dreams also included hyper-violence not unlike that of an R-rated movie, as opposed to a non-gamer PG-13 dream.

"If you look at the actual overall amount of aggression, gamers have less aggression in dreams," Gackenbach said. "But when they're aggressive, oh boy, they go off the top."

No fear

The gamer dream experience of high aggression levels matched with little or no fear inspired Gackenbach to pursue a new study with Athabasca University in Canada. If gaming can act as a semi-protective function against nightmares, she reasoned, maybe it could help war veterans who experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after enduring combat.

"I don't think anyone has looked at whether there's been a protective function," Gackenbach said. "It makes a lot of sense, but it's a hypothesis."

Psychologists consider nightmares as one of the symptoms of PTSD, and studies have shown incredibly high rates of nightmares ranging from 71 to 96 percent among PTSD patients. By contrast, just 3 to 5 percent of civilians reported the same levels of nightmares.

Virtual reality simulators have already been used to help PTSD patients gradually adjust to the threatening situations that plague their waking and sleeping thoughts. If Gackenbach's hunch is correct, perhaps video games could also help relieve the need for nightmares.

Finding the balance

Gackenbach hopes to someday get a sleep lab and perhaps a virtual reality lab to verify her results, even if studies about video games and dreams have not proven the highest priority for receiving funds. Yet studying video games has attracted more interest and respect from colleagues than studying just dreams alone, she has noticed.

Some of Gackenbach's latest work includes studying the violence levels in games, based upon the video game ratings given out by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, and seeing what effect they have upon aggression within dreams.

"I'm not saying [gamers] don't get more aggressive, not saying there's not more problems with addiction, and not saying there's not obesity issues," Gackenbach said. "As with everything else, there's a balance."

Any military personnel or veterans interested in the Athabasca University study on the military and gaming can e-mail [email protected] to find out how to participate.

http://www.livescience.com/culture/video-games-control-dreams-100525.html

Kinda neat, I always love those lucid dreams and those where I'm flying and beating up criminals and doing my own crazy stunts.

 

[Danimal]

Anyone can control dreams, dumbass. It's called Lucid Dreaming.

EDIT: Speaking of which I got torn in half by one of those Medium Suit guys from Dystopia last night, while trying to find the fire exit in a huge health resort that seemed suspiciously like a rehab centre.

 

[Dog--]

Anyone can control dreams, dumbass. It's called Lucid Dreaming.

EDIT: Speaking of which I got torn in half by one of those Medium Suit guys from Dystopia last night, while trying to find the fire exit in a huge health resort that seemed suspiciously like a rehab centre.

Man, chill out. Not everyone practises the skills to be able to lucid dream.. It takes practise to even do, this thread says that playing video games right before bed increases your chances of having one.. I know your not that thick so you best be trolling..

 

[Danimal]

Dog-- I thought you died in a rockslide of lame or something.

 

[Warped]

Anyone can control dreams, dumbass. It's called Lucid Dreaming.

EDIT: Speaking of which I got torn in half by one of those Medium Suit guys from Dystopia last night, while trying to find the fire exit in a huge health resort that seemed suspiciously like a rehab centre.

in case you didn't read it, dickface....they said gamers have a higher degree of lucid dreaming from their study.

Several intriguing parallels between lucid dreams and video games first emerged when Gackenbach examined past research on games. Both lucid dreamers and gamers seemed to have better spatial skills and were less prone to motion sickness.

The two groups have also demonstrated a high level of focus or concentration, whether honed through lucidity-training activities, such as meditation, or through hours spent fighting virtual enemies to reach the next level in a game.

i know anyone can have lucid dreaming. but with gaming they're saying is that you don't even have to try to have lucid dreaming, you're more likely to experience it. i've read those stupid sites where people try to experience lucid dreaming. and in my sake i can't remember most of my dreams anyway.

 

[Danimal]

 

[15357]

Ok, but explain why in most of my dreams I merely observe events and have a narrator tell me what is going on, like the planetary obileration I wrote about in that artificial life thread?

 

[Warped]

Ok, but explain why in most of my dreams I merely observe events and have a narrator tell me what is going on, like the planetary obileration I wrote about in that artificial life thread?

your probably a Savant. do you see things in numbers???????

 

[Acepilotf14]

I play video games all the time but I can't lucid dream.

 

[Warped]

I play video games all the time but I can't lucid dream.

I got them a ton when I play Crackdown and GTA. for some reason the constant jumping or driving around gets absorbed by my brain

 

[Stigmata]

Ok, but explain why in most of my dreams I merely observe events and have a narrator tell me what is going on, like the planetary obileration I wrote about in that artificial life thread?

HL2.net Therapist: Because your existence is one of observation, not action and influence, in no small part due to the environment and culture you've been raised in.

 

[Dekstar]

I play video games all the time but I can't lucid dream.

It still probably requires you to keep a dream journal so you can remember your dreams and spot similarities in them.

 

[Dynasty]

I'd say alot of my dreams are influenced by video games, sure. Especially the ones I was playing an hour or so before sleeping. Or in my WoW days...5 minutes before going to bed at 4am.

But I think thats the same with anything we do alot of. If we read alot of books we would dream of whats in the books. Play alot of football we would dream of football. Play music, dream of music etc etc.

And yes, gaming improves awareness, senses, motor skills, reflexes, hand-eye coordination. Doctors use Wiis to improve their hand coordination. If its doctor recommended, it MUST be good for you in some way.

So ***k off parents and other adults complaining about video games affecting their kids. Dont ban games, ban your fanny until you can look after what comes out ok?

 

[Danimal]

If its doctor recommended, it MUST be good for you in some way.

lol'd at this pretty hard, babies have been dieing around Australia after taking doctor/government recommended swine flu vaccinations.

And, like:

etc.

I think Doctors used to sell concoctions of heroine, cocaine, etc. in small vials for your baby if they were crying in the middle of the night, too.

 

[dfc05]

Eh, like the article mentioned, sounds like it's just vaguely suggestive evidence at this point.

Also,

Gackenbach hopes to someday get a sleep lab and perhaps a virtual reality lab to verify her results, even if studies about video games and dreams have not proven the highest priority for receiving funds. Yet studying video games has attracted more interest and respect from colleagues than studying just dreams alone, she has noticed.

wow I feel sorry for dream researchers

 

[Sheepo]

I've never had a lucid dream (or I don't remember ever having a lucid dream) but I want to.

 

[JUL3]

Haha I had a mind like a sponge 3 years ago, when I was 13.

First time playing Half-Life 2: Episode Two, I was walking home at night; coulda sworn I heard a Strider blowing up a house over the hill. lol.

 

[arch5]

I'm working on being able to fully lucid dream. I'm very good at dream recall now- EVERY night I have a long dream, and I'm completely able to recall it within ~30 minutes of waking up.

I have had lucid dreams before, though. 2 nights in a row once.

Heres some tips that work for me:
1. Write something down on your hand in pen. It can be a triangle, circle, or whatever you want. Associate this with reality checks (Tip 3) so when you look at the shape on your hand you wonder if your dreaming or not.
2. Keep a Dream Journal and look at it every night before you go to bed.
3. This is hard because usually your too busy doing other stuff, but every now and then during the day (eh, once an hour) take a look at a clock or a mirror and question "Am I dreaming?".

After a while this should work. Your body should be used to doing reality checks, so during a dream your mind will automatically realize that your dreaming.

When you realize your dreaming, to prevent the dream from fading away and you awakening, spin around and rub your hands together in your dream. Works for me too to keep myself in the dream.

 

[Dynasty]

I dont have dreams, I have motion pictures.

And I could swear I saw someone on HL2.net say that he loves dreams because they're like free tv.

 

[bbson john]

Good thing I play video games. Violent dreams reduce my daily pressure.

 

[Dan]

Anyone who has played Tetris for 10 hours straight already knows that games can control your dreams.

 

[Mellish]

I've had several dreams about the G-Man. They were all nightmares.

 

[Tyguy]

i had a lucid sex dream a while back and it was unreal. that bitch did anything i wanted her to.

 

[Dan]

I had real sex this morning. Then I fell asleep and had a dream about being in Jamaica.

 

[<RJMC>]

dam I want to have lucid dreams whit tons of lesbians

maybe not playing enough

 

[Naph]

Lucid dreams are great, or what I could imagine. I have the tendency to do the opposite of what I draw myself to.

 

[Warped]

dam I want to have lucid dreams whit tons of lesbians

maybe not playing enough

dude you live in Venezuela! you should be banging beautiful women all the time! I don't have the luxury of meeting athletic/thin women like you would. where i live nothing but fatties

 

[AKIRA]

Had a dream I was in a Doom Level. But it didn't feel like I was actually inside the game, felt like I was controlling it through keyboard + mouse.