Do Gamers Dream of Electric Sleep?

Do Gamers Dream of Electric Sleep?

I dreamt last night.

Brendan Caldwell discusses the effect of games on dreams and the amount of control it can grant.

THEY OPENED up a world of violence, when they asked what happened to Subject #27.

“I was in a desert. I looked bad, dusty. I saw my tiny silhouette against a large sun, meaning I was watching myself, in 3rd person. While I looked bad I didn’t feel bad. I was indifferent to the “my” feelings.

“I came upon a carnival, but it gets sketchy at that point.

“Eventually I’m driving a car, again not at a real POV (point of view), but following behind the car. It didn’t matter to me that I was crashing into other cars or walls.

“My car caught fire; I saw it melt from within. I died not trying to escape.”

He was a dreamer, Subject #27 was. In the same vulgar way we all are. Anyone who spent too long a time in symbiosis with that asshole Vercetti probably dreamt of the exact same thing. Which is exactly the area that interests them. Them? The research people.

Dreamscaping

Jayne Gackenbach has done multiple studies on the effects of game playing on the way people dream. Her first study in 2006 suggested that gamers were more likely to report lucid dreams – vivid dreams in which the person is aware they’re dreaming – and observing dreams, where the person views themselves from another perspective. More interestingly, Gackenbach’s research suggested that gamers were also more likely to have a certain amount of control over their dreams, in the same way they control characters in-game.

Subject #27 displayed a strange combination of free will and stoicism. Before the inferno made shadows and dust of him.

“As the car was burning I opened the door and leaned out to leave but made the decision to stay inside instead because I was curious to see what I would look like burning alive. While I felt the heat, smelt the smoke, I didn’t feel any pain. I felt detached from the feelings, but recognized that they were my own.”

The fella was not too hassled about his skin melting, just mildly curious as to what that would be like. Subject #27 was a living (dying) oxymoron. A man composed of detached interest or attached disinterest. Such is the universal understanding of the dreamworld. It all makes sense at the time.

“He also reported that it was not a nightmare,” said Gackenbach. “He was not scared, but the dream was violent. Finally he reported that the dream was not lucid and that he had no control over it but I wonder?”

“I expect gamers do not find this in the least surprising in that they control their actions and other’s responses to those actions – to some extent – in games so that when it translates to dreams it is likely again they would not notice.”

In this profession, you have to – are supposed to – check your facts. Have to see if the story really is a story. Sure, Jayne Gackenbach has lots of shiny, shiny, scientific evidence. Psshaw. What we need more of, in this particular field, is anecdotal evidence: for any lover of empiricism, the King of all proofs. There is nothing more valuable to the learned man than to become Subject #28.

Can I do it?

Would you believe it works? If only the actual Left 4 Dead encouraged the same level of wacky creativity that plagued my dream-teammates. After barely an hour of co-op akimbo before beddie-byes – Subject #27 put in 4-7 hours of gaming plus some violent cartoons by comparison – I dreamt vividly of a zombie apocalypse. The finale was an abandoned gardener’s shed. We decided it would be best to shovel a massive pile of compost against every door and window except one and funnel them through that straight into a lawn-mower we could rig up to de-limb every z-word silly enough to come in. We also had a minigun. Each.

Here, pay attention. Yes, it’s true that nobody is ever as interested in other people’s dreams as much as they enjoy their own. It’s like that inside joke people keep repeating repeating repeating that’s only funny if you were there and if you’re a dickhead. But come on, this is research. Pay attention attention attention.

We decided to leave the rescue vehicle, a white van, to “recharge” despite having refuelled it amid a rush of baddies. Like in all dreams, this made sense at the time. Dreams aren’t famed for their continuity. Neither is Left 4 Dead.

Continues…

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