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The Bizarre World Of Gaming Influenced Dreams.
Dreams, we all have them. But what do they mean? Dreams are described as a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Dreams occur most prominently during a stage called R.E.M (Rapid Eye Movement), a state of unconsciousness when your brain activity is at its most pronounced. During this state of hallucinatory convalescence sensations can manifest in a variety of ways. They can appear ordinary, surreal, promote feeling’s of dread or happiness, they can be melancholic in nature and even sexual. For the most part we have little control over what happens during a dream, with the notable exception of “Lucid dreaming” that is a state in which the person is self-aware, able to directly manipulate the dream to some degree. I experienced one of these recently, influenced it seems by a gaming.
This gaming infused stupor has a profound effect on the addled narrative I found myself navigating. This particular fantasy began in a rather conventional setting; trapped on a commercial airline with my childhood friend. That is until a crew member promptly escorts us off to security who let us past without being detained or reprimanded. We then headed into the adjacent shopping centre, negotiating my way past Nathan Drake who asks if I have seen Elena because she has his satsuma. I replied that I hadn’t before exiting to a park to officiate a world cup game between France and Spain. A job that required me to adjust two giant containers full of water so that they remained the same depth. I finally realised that this succession of clumsily fabricated images wasn’t real and woke up.
I’m sure there’s some psychological, Freudian interpretation that can be inferred from this sensory hysteria, but I’m at a loss as to what it is? I do know however that it probably has something to do with late night gaming. Many, if not all the dreams I can recollect have some partisan gaming influence. When Resident Evil 5 was released I exhausted several hours in pursuit of its completion, only to fabricate my own ending in my sleep where Jill, Shiva and I engaged in some horizontal relations, or a “Jill sandwich” if you prefer. In fact on my way to work the following day my routine jaunt takes me under a bridge, where I found myself looking up for any pearls or sapphires buried in the alcoves! Yet despite this lapse in cognitive understanding, science it seems has proved that gaming before sleep could actual be beneficial.
According to “studies” the use of electronic devices before bed, such as mobile phones has detrimental effect on a person’s ability to sleep. Conversely researchers, who have clearly used their foremost research for good have found that gaming promotes lucid dreaming, a person’s ability to engage in dreams with a conscious awareness of what’s going on and potentially controlling the situation. This also decreases the chances of having nightmares because as gamers we are used to resolving conflict, as such any hostile intrusions would be dealt with in a timely, composed manner; hurling involuntary insults and besmirched the sexual orientation of the foes mother.
Dreams really are passages into our own subconscious. A place where our creative impulses flourish, nurtured by the absence of sense and rationality. You can’t tell me that this fertile environment isn’t where the concepts for great games has been fostered.
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