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Video Gamers Have Power Over Their Dreams
Ponca City, We love you writes "Live Science reports that researchers say playing video games before bedtime may give gamers an unusual level of awareness and control in their dreams, which could provide an edge when fighting nightmares or even mental trauma. 'If you're spending hours a day in a virtual reality, if nothing else it's practice,' says Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada, who says that hardcore gamers represent the leading edge of immersion in virtual worlds that increasingly has come to define a large part of contemporary entertainment and communication. 'Gamers are used to controlling their game environments, so that can translate into dreams.' One intriguing theory holds that dreams are a sort of threat simulation where nightmares help organisms hone their skills in a protective environment, and ideally prepare organisms for a real-life situation. To test that theory, Gackenbach conducted a study using independent assessments that coded threat levels in after-dream reports and 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."
>> Other than testing the number of respawns.
Praise Buddha for respawns!
I don't know about games, but last night I did an in-dream Wikipedia search on a piece of botany I encountered in a dream. It was pretty freaking weird. Very realistic too, as the wikipedia entry was quite inaccurate.
... and then they built the supercollider.
so this raises the question, what do electric sheep play?
Whatever they play, they play it baaadly.
... and then they built the supercollider.
If Lawrence Fishburne is nearby wearing a trench coat, I'd close my eyes, cover my ears with my fingers, and chant: "This is a dream, the sequels don't exist" over and over like a mantra.
You're not a true gamer until you dream of tetris blocks falling on a regular basis.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Dream world of the past:
Unicorns & Fairies
Dream world of the future (or Present):
Unlimited Minerals & Vespene Gas
I hate these long respawn times - you're having a great game and suddenly - woosh, it's gone, connection dropped! It takes forever to calm down and reconnect to the realm of dreams. Even when you eventually manage to, there are no dedicated servers and the maps are random, so you rarely end up playing the same good map that you got disconnected from...
Or worse. Being surrounded by brown 'R's and yellow 'c's.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I usually just find a dream-bathroom and pee. If my thighs suddenly get really warm, it's a dream. And my girlfriend is very angry.