Support our Kickstarter

Lucid Gaming

Stephen Hershey
bigpac.jpg

Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Canada's Grant MacEwan University, suggests that playing video games may increase one's ability to control their dreams and combat nightmares. She elaborates: "Gamers are used to controlling their game environments, so that can translate into dreams."

Parallels were also found between gamers and lucid dreamers, both showing the same results in cerebral exercises. Gackenbach believes her work may help soldiers struggling with PSTD, providing not only mental and emotional release, but the in-dream awareness to fight latent trauma.

Image: "Ms Pac Man" by Patrick Hoesly on Flickr courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing.

Tags:

Comments

Ms. Pac Man is an

Submitted by Kung Fu Jones on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 18:49.

Ms. Pac Man is an interesting choice for illustration. The Pac-Mans, and their controllers, have zero control over their environment. They are trapped in a maze, and the only choice is between consuming pellets to the left, and consuming pellets to the right. They don't possess the freedom to stand still for even one moment. Meanwhile, the Pac-Mans are haunted by phantoms and ghosts. Is it their own ancestors that torment them, demanding a change in their rapacious behavior? Or are these merely projections of their own repressed selves? Enough about Pac Man.

Today's average video game offers much greater control: you can move forward, backward, left, right, reload, and shoot. Some of the more sophisticated titles even let you drive a car, so that you can run over drug dealers and prostitutes.

http://www.martialdevelopment.com/blog/

Very interesting, I play

Submitted by 7mk on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 19:00.
Very interesting, I play quite a lot of games myself and I've had quite a few lucid dreams too @Kung Fu Jones You're probably right, I'm sure, if the thesis is true at all, that it depends on what kind of game you play.

Great point...

Submitted by Stephen Hershey on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 21:59.
...but, every game has their own set of rules, don't they? even with sandbox titles like GTA, there is still a limited universe to work within. i'd say there's more of a nostalgia kick going on now, with greater interests in throwbacks like Megaman 10 and Sonic 4. It'll be interesting to see where the industry heads now that the industry has multiple generations of markets to work with.

"You have tasted death now," said the Old Man. "Is it good?"

"It is good," Mossy replied. "It is better than life."

"No... only more life."

Lucid

Submitted by s. vanille on Sat, 06/05/2010 - 15:12.

yea, thats true. I owe my very first lucid dream to the dragonball manga books. And later on I had a lot of lucid dreams where I dived into my subconscious realm to explore a lot of stuff. And if it got to heavy or too scary for me, then out of habit, I pullet out my playstation controller in the dream, and pressed the "exit"-button, and I was awake. To be honest, i am grateful for video games. often they gave some development boost. Final Fantasy and Heavy Rain are great! thanks!

 

Honestly, my dreams can

Submitted by Stephen Hershey on Sat, 06/05/2010 - 21:14.

Honestly, my dreams can often grand, power-weilding, epic, mind-bending adventures... and I feel like it all stems from the intense imagery and reality-bending experiences had through gaming, etc.

I had an amazing one after getting into "Code Geass," too... happy to see other gamers here! 

 

"You have tasted death now," said the Old Man. "Is it good?"

"It is good," Mossy replied. "It is better than life."

"No... only more life."

Great Point

Submitted by bendeddy on Sun, 06/06/2010 - 04:57.
every game has their own set of rules, don't they? even with sandbox titles like GTA, there is still a limited universe to work within. i'd say there's more of a nostalgia kick going on now, with greater interests in throwbacks like Megaman 10 and Sonic 4. It'll be interesting to see where the industry heads now that the industry has multiple generations of markets to work with. "You have tasted death now," said the Old Man. "Is it good?" "It is good," Mossy replied. "It is better than life." "No... only more life." Terbaru | informasi terbaru | unik

Could be...

Submitted by silentgreen on Sun, 06/06/2010 - 16:23.
Speaking as a long-time gamer, there could be something to the theory. I have had many lucid dreams in my life, which I estimate to be about one in five after I began playing on a regular basis. However, ultimate control over my dream was rare. What I have noticed is an increased ability to recognize the dream for what it is, sometimes shattering the illusion and waking me. This usually occurs when there seems to be a negative tone. Positive dreams seem to be more pliable. Of course, this is probably due to other factors in my life and my own sense of self contributing to any effects garnered by spending long hours exploring virtual universes. In short, our individual experiences and personalities shape our individual realities, whether "awake" or "dreaming." Video games are manufactured realities that allow varying degrees of freedom and self-expression. The best games are those that let the player create their experience, in my opinion. Unfortunately, most games are quite the opposite, and limit player expression through rigidly linear experiences. I enjoy a good story as much as the next person, but I believe that creative expression in one reality or another would have the greatest effect upon consciousness...or subconsciousness, as the case may be...

Team National16

Submitted by Team National16 on Mon, 06/14/2010 - 04:03.
Found the information worthy as I had no idea of posting a comment on the blog.I have gone through it's details and really enjoyed it.Thanks a lot for sharing.Keep blogging. Team National16

Simple and cool....

Submitted by sunnymarch on Wed, 08/04/2010 - 11:27.
It's Simple and cool games that I have played. Such creative and funny small games will have a good future. I think. I will also collect there good games on my Game gadgets.  Iphone and ipad will be a great game console with these games.