[news] Gamers have power over their dreams

[nanicoar]

Via Slashdot;

"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 hard core 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."

- http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/0...r-Their-Dreams

Links:
http://www.livescience.com/culture/v...ms-100525.html
http://academic.macewan.ca/gackenbac...anding-dreams/
http://science.slashdot.org/story/08...eat-Simulation

[turbulenceadams]

Yep if I've been gaming I notice my dream control gets better, but the downside is that everything becomes very game-like ie linear.

[ThePoliteSkeptic]

Considering that nightmares are, from what I've read, supposed to be for threat simulation, that makes some sense. It's too bad I've never noticed that. My nightmares, which are rare, tend to involve losing my teeth or something similar, which isn't often simulated in video games.

[ButterflyWoman]

My nightmares, which are rare, tend to involve losing my teeth or something similar, which isn't often simulated in video games.

I used to get that one all the time (I ended up losing several of my teeth, so it ended up being precognitive, too :cry. I did get a laugh trying to imagine the video game that would having losing your teeth. Something Japanese, I would imagine, probably starring Mario, and when the teeth fell, they'd make a funny, tinkly noise....

[ThePoliteSkeptic]

I used to get that one all the time (I ended up losing several of my teeth, so it ended up being precognitive, too

Don't scare me!

I did get a laugh trying to imagine the video game that would having losing your teeth. Something Japanese, I would imagine

Ha! Too true!