Why are lucid dreams so unvivid?

I had a dream last night that was one of the most vivid dreams ever, and I liked it almost more than a lucid dream because of that though I couldn't control it. Are anyone else's normal dreams more vivid than their lucids?

Well, I wouldn't call lucid dreams "un"vivid. It really depends on just how lucid you are, which is often determined when one becomes lucid such as right before waking up. I have had dreams that are extremely sensory, but it really just depends.

I think, also, that since LDs can often be determined by how much control you have over them, they're only limited by your imagination. You can be capable of being in a place and experiencing things that are extremely vivid and sensory.

Any more and I think I'd just be repeating the same things. Once could also ask why some dreams are so lackluster and dull. It just depends.

I find I have dreams of varying vividity regardless of whether I'm lucid, but in response to your topic title, I find my lucid dreams on average considerably more vivid than those which aren't.

Hmmm.....my experiences have been the opposite. I just had my second lucid dream a couple nights ago and it felt so real. I was lucid for a bit and then it went away. When I wasn't lucid, I was in a bathroom brushing my teeth, looking into the mirror at myself and thinking about the lucid dream I had just had. I was amazed at how clear and real everything felt. I noticed that the dream felt exactly the same as that moment when I was brushing my teeth. I entertained the thought for a second that I could still be dreaming. But then I looked at the walls of the bathroom and the sink and really saw all the detail of it, the imperfections, the paint peeling here and there, dust, etc and "knew" that I wasn't dreaming. I thought I'd do a reality check just for fun, so I looked at my left pupil in the mirror and tried to make it wider. I was surprised when it actually happened but rationalized that the sun hitting my eyes must be the reason, (don't pupils get smaller in the sun though?) Then I tried to make it bigger and bigger until my entire left eye was all black, and then I realized I was dreaming. I was so surprised because everything before that was so clear and detailed that to be dreaming would have been impossible.

It almost feels like when I'm lucid or almost lucid, my brain is super alert and creative and very aware of tiny details.

Nup my lucid dreams are usually far more vivid as i actually make an effort to look at my suroundings

yeah, i've had one that realistic too kichu. pretty crazy eh? :wink:
and a couple that were almost perfect replications of actual places.

i've found really short lucids are usually not particularly vibrant or clear. but anything over a minute, and some intense 35 second ones as well, are quite memorable, and i can still recall them without aid.

the most realistic lucid i've had is remembered better than any other memory.

Yeah, well, usually I become lucid simply because my brain goes "hey, this is too much realness to be real, too good to be true, plus I am driving around in a rocky yet brilliantly colored field being overrun by equally brilliant lava, and I'm flying, those thiings are weird but these colors are too colorful, I must be dreaming!"