GILD

**Rush2112** · 06-08-2010 03:42 PM

*I originally posted this on Lucidipedia but thought I'd spread it to another active LD community for good measure.

TOTAL SUCCESSES - ONE (Ravemaster7)

Originally Posted by Ravemaster7 on DreamViews

Hey, just came across this today; I have not tried it, but I feel like I've done it already (minus the mp3 dream reminder)! When I first got the game Prototype for 360, I marveled at the amazing things the main character (Alex Mercer) could do - scale walls just by running up them, perform charged leaps and attacks, glide, and otherwise manipulate his biology. I was so fascinated, apparently, that it spilled over into my dreams! I found myself in Alex's body, using his claws, whipfist, and incredible running/scaling powers! It was a lucid, exhilarating experience! I strongly recommend using videogames to influence your dream control schemes. You don't have to experience it in the way the game presents it to you, either; in your dreams you can literally sense anything you want, down to the ground under your gaming feet.

I saw a post from Tim on Lucidipedia's homepage about 3D games and lucid dreams so I googled it and found some very interesting things. I have used these things to create an induction method.

Originally Posted by Source

http://www.livescience.com/culture/video-games-control-dreams-100525.html

Originally Posted by Excerpt

Playing video games before bedtime may give people an unusual level of awareness and control in their dreams, LiveScience has learned. Dreams and video games both represent alternate realities. "Gamers are used to controlling their game environments, so that can translate into dreams." The two groups [gamers and lucid dreamers] have also demonstrated a high level of focus or concentration, whether honed through lucidity-training activities, such as meditation, or through hours spent fighting virtual enemies to reach the next level in a game. The first study suggested that people who frequently played video games were more likely to report lucid dreams, observer dreams where they viewed themselves from outside their bodies, and dream control that allowed people to actively influence or change their dream worlds – qualities suggestive of watching or controlling the action of a video-game character.

PREREQUISITES

* First of all, this isn't for everyone. If you're not into video games, this is not the method for you.

* You will need a video game. It needs to be 3D. The more realistic the graphics, the better. It is highly recommended that you play a non-linear, open-world game. In these games you can explore and do your own thing OR follow the game's main story - much like in a lucid dream. Here is a list of games that would work exceptionally well with this method:

Grand Theft Auto 4 - Total freedom in the huge world of Liberty City (based off of New York).
Prototype - While you have a smaller (but still very open and large) world to explore, the mere dreamlike abilities such as superspeed, flying and intense parkour available to you in this game make it a very good choice to not only practice dream control but inspire you to have a lucid dream.
Red Dead Redemption - From the creators of Grand Theft Auto, this game is almost identical save for the setting - the early-1900s Wild West.
Assassin's Creed I/II - Though your freedom is somewhat restricted, you still have free roam of the setting with the addition of acrobatic parkour moves to scale buildings and ancient Arabian temples.
Most MMOs (World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, EVE Online, etc) allow the character to travel freely through a massive virtual world. As such, they would work well.

*An mp3 with some sort of message that says "This is a dream" or something similar. The easiest way to do this is to record yourself with a mic and make an mp3 file that plays that message and then has 15 minutes of nothing. That way, when you loop it, it plays every 15 minutes.

STEP 1 - THE NIGHT BEFORE

About an hour before you go to bed, turn on your game and play it. Have your mp3 set to go off about every 10 or 15 minutes. As you play the game, especially if you are playing an open sandbox game, really take notice to what you are able to do. Feel the virtual freedom. Every so often when you're doing something that you know you couldn't do in real life, do a reality check. When you hear your mp3, do a reality check.

STEP 2 - FALLING ASLEEP

When you crawl into bed, the gameplay should be so fresh in your mind that you can visualize it with ease and vividness. Do so. Feel the freedom, do things that you would in the game. Take note of the game itself. What are you able to manipulate in that game? When did you do reality checks when you were playing it? Make sure your alarm is set at the time you usually do a WBTB.

STEP 3 - WBTB/MILD/WILD

When you wake up, recall dreams as normal. Did you dream about the game you played? If so, you're definitely on the right track. Now turn on your game again. Repeat step 1. Play for as long as you usually stay up when you do a WBTB. Now, when you get into bed again, you should be able to visualize playing that game in vivid detail. As you return to sleep, picture yourself as if you were still playing that game. Don't re-enact something you did in the game earlier, imagine you are still playing it. What kind of freedom do you have? What can you manipulate? When did you do a reality check? As you go back to sleep, continue picturing this. Hopefully this visualization turns into a more vivid dreamscene. You could just as easily take this directly into a visualized WILD. If not, you have a good chance of dreaming about the game and becoming lucid.

NOTICE

*As of 6/8/10 at 12:06 AM, I have not officially even TRIED this technique. Despite this, I have confidence that it will produce good results for the following reasons:

I have tried visualizing something before bed to try to make it appear in a dream without it working many many times. Yet, when I play video games a lot or right before bed, I would say that 80% of the time that I remember my dreams of that night, at least one of them is related to that game.
This technique is fun. You're playing a video game for god's sake.
Research has proven that 3D gamers are better at both inducing lucid dreams and controlling them once lucid.
Close your eyes and picture yourself jumping from an airplane. How vivid was that visualization? Chances are it was pretty decent. Now, wave your hand in front of your face. Close your eyes and picture that. Chances are it was incredibly vivid, because you just experienced it. The same thing happens when you play a game, and this I know from experience. If it's fresh in your mind, it's going to be SO much easier to visualize when you crawl back in bed.

You're not just doing a MILD and a WBTB, you're training your mind to be able to control your environment and to be able to recognize when it can do so. You're practicing the cognitive elements that 3D gamers have that aid them with lucid dreaming. You're using autosuggestion as well by connecting a reality check / alert that you're dreaming with the game that you're playing.

Please post your results.

If you have a suggestion for a change in the technique or a game you can use for this, post please.

**Ravemaster7** · 06-08-2010 06:21 PM

Hey, just came across this today; I have not tried it, but I feel like I've done it already (minus the mp3 dream reminder)! When I first got the game Prototype for 360, I marveled at the amazing things the main character (Alex Mercer) could do - scale walls just by running up them, perform charged leaps and attacks, glide, and otherwise manipulate his biology. I was so fascinated, apparently, that it spilled over into my dreams! I found myself in Alex's body, using his claws, whipfist, and incredible running/scaling powers! It was a lucid, exhilarating experience! I strongly recommend using videogames to influence your dream control schemes. You don't have to experience it in the way the game presents it to you, either; in your dreams you can literally sense anything you want, down to the ground under your gaming feet.

If you don't believe me, watch a video of Prototype in action - who wouldn't want to do that in a dream?!

**Rush2112** · 06-08-2010 06:39 PM

In fact, Prototype is one of the games I looked at for this method.

Thank you so much for your feedback, you've just given me a success-story!

**Ravemaster7** · 06-08-2010 06:47 PM

Hey, anything to advance lucid dreaming OR gaming!

it's a win-win situation

**marcher22** · 06-09-2010 11:46 AM

I have had results with this last year. It was a "technique" I tried but it happened out of coincidence. Let me share my results:

I went to bed ( don't know when) and woke up earlier than I normally do. I started playing on my DS, games like FIFA 09 and Mario Kart. Keep in mind the DS has really pixelated graphics. I went to bed, woke up again, and played DS, went back to bed. I don't know what happened here but I think I have a DILD, the dream scene changed and I was now on a bus filled with *!!soccer players( I assume from the FIFA 09 I played earlier), and the visuals were very pixelated, like my DS. Anyways the bus was about to crash into a tree. I jumped out the bus, the bus crashed into the tree and everyone died from what I could tell. Anyways I yelled increase lucidity to get rid of the bad graphics and things got clearer. Not as clear as real life but much better then before...

It all matters what you DO before sleeping. I read someone's dream journal here about Anime and a Waterfall before sleeping. I had a dream and there was waterfall and some elements of a Japanese game...

**Lucid_Guy.exe** · 06-09-2010 07:26 PM

Ha! It works...sort of! I played Pokemon Pearl for I don't know how long in bed, then fell asleep fast. The dream I had made me trigger random lucidity! I think I woke up soon after, or had an FA, or whatever. I do believe it works!

**Mike02** · 06-09-2010 07:40 PM

I don't really recommend this the back light from a TV or computer screen resets your internal clock.

**Sorox** · 06-10-2010 04:27 AM

Definitley a believer in this. About 7-8 months ago, I got "Der Riese" for call of duty world at war. Well, theres a hide-n-seek minigame in there that I thought had a lot more to it than there really was. I spent so much time thinking about, that I dreamt about it. It wasn't completely lucid, but a lot of it was.

**Ravemaster7** · 06-10-2010 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by Mike02

I don't really recommend this the back light from a TV or computer screen resets your internal clock.

What evidence do you have to support this? I play games and/or use my computer in a dark room almost every night before bed, and I hardly ever have trouble sleeping or remembering dreams.

**Mike02** · 06-10-2010 02:47 PM

I tried it, I played bad company 2 for 1:30 hours. No change in dream control(I always have good dream control). Also, sorox dreaming about video games does not get you lucid. The theory is better dream CONTROL, and yes the unnatural light from a computer or TV destroys the production of melatonin, and your sleep patterns might be messed up too.

**XeL** · 06-10-2010 03:08 PM

The theory is better dream CONTROL

Not only. Lucidity as well.

**exdreamer** · 06-10-2010 03:31 PM

Sounds like a really interesting method to try. I might try Fallout 3 or Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion since they're first person perspective open world RPGs. Then again, Bethesda's characters are so ugly, I really wouldn't want to run in to them in my dreams and have them stare at me with their creepy faces...

**XeL** · 06-10-2010 05:16 PM

^ROFL

I second that.

**Ravemaster7** · 06-10-2010 08:05 PM

http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/200...runc_sys.shtml
TL;DR

So... Play your games in a well-lit room, or at a safe distance from your face. This study doesn't really suggest anything major in the venue of sleep quality. It does, however, suggest that if you sign up for a Japanese study, you may be subjected to a rectal thermometer. Regardless, most people are going to stare at their LCD screens late into the night. The only 'natural' kind of light I know of is light from the sun, anyway. Or fire. But I don't have any sconces in my bedroom.

And exdreamer, I also thought the same thing, haha.

**Rush2112** · 06-11-2010 08:41 AM

Sorry, I've completely forgotten about this for a few nights. Anyways, it's 2:40 AM and I'm going to play for 30 minutes and then go to bed and wake up with an alarm at like 8-9, another 30 minutes, then WBTB. By the way, Just Cause 2 is without a doubt the best game to use with this method. YouTube it if you haven't heard of it, it's phenomenal (if your PC can handle it of course).

**Rush2112** · 06-11-2010 06:08 PM

I'm pissed, alarm didn't go off. Tonight hopefully.

**Willowleaf** · 06-12-2010 12:10 AM

I defiantly think Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the game to use to test this, it has the best game graphics I've ever seen and is an open freeroam gameplay, plus the bonus it is set in medieval time and has an enormous amount of lore so it makes for interesting dreams, I think I've had more then one excellent oblivion dream

I play games a lot of the times before bed so I think I'll try this method since I'm playing anyway.

**Rush2112** · 06-12-2010 07:57 PM

Played 50 minutes of Just Cause 2 with a flying mod while listening to a Lucid Dreaming isochronic and a looped "I am dreaming, perform a reality check" mp3 after drinking a glass of apple juice a few hours prior. Went to bed, woke up at 9 to my alarm (which literally rang right as my dad in a dream said "Is this a dream?" [one of the messages in that mp3]) and did the same thing for 15 minutes. Went back to bed. Did a reality check with my nose in my room, became lucid. Had a quite long, vivid lucid dream in which I went outside and tried to fly using the methods that I used to fly in Just Cause 2. I frequently said "Clarity now", performed nose-RCs, and looked at my hands (as well as rubbing them). All things that are repeated in that mp3. I eventually lost lucidity and it became a normal dream, which therefore caused me not to be able to wake myself up. So, sadly, I forgot some of the detail. But I remember the vivid feeling of the reality check among many other things.

TL;DR? Success. By the way, I've only had 3 lucid dreams including this one and WBTBs haven't worked for me much in the past. Ergo, the gaming part helped.

**TheEvilToaster** · 06-12-2010 08:08 PM

I play a lot of games, and have had similar things before. When I first got my ps3, I played a lot of Red Faction: Guerilla, and all night, it was all I could think about. But for me, it wasn't really a lucid dream. I couldn't sleep, and images of RFG kept appearing whenever I closed my eyes. It was like I was actually playing the game. I hated it, couldn't sleep, couldn't think straight, couldn't even control what I did. I put my Ipod on, and stopped thinking about the game. I've had this a few times, and I hated the fact that I couldn't get away from that damn game! I would think about something else, or move, but every time, I went back to thinking about it.

**Rush2112** · 06-12-2010 08:59 PM

That's not at all the method. You play for an hour before bed, play for x amount of time during a WBTB, and you use the game's imprint on your subconscious to become lucid. Of all the things that have a massive impact on what I dream about at night, two during-the-day activities influence it the most and those two things are games and sex. You're creating an automatic connection between playing an awesome game and having a lucid dream. It's effective, it works, it's been researched by some Russian dude and there's a lot of claims in this very thread that it works. I just this morning experienced a success and before it I'd only had two completely random DILDs that weren't induced by active effort or any pre-practiced RCs. If you want to try this, be my guest. If not, okay.

**hgld1234** · 06-19-2010 03:13 PM

It may help to do RCs playing the game, I don't know but it might do.

**VelvetShaw** · 06-20-2010 05:17 AM

Very excited, will try this tonight with Just Cause 2

**Daydreamer77** · 06-23-2010 04:32 AM

This is actualy quite an interesting method. I haven't yet tried it, but I have been toying around with the idea of trying it for quite a while. Anyway, iv noticed that when u are ingrossed in somthing like video games u dream about them. Like just this past week or 2 I was working on a final for my computer programming class and I drempt about my code because I was so focused in it. (I was making a black Jack game it was fun). So ithought I'd just put my 2 cents in. Hope this method works I think I'll try it tonight. Well good luck to others who try it.

-Daydreamer777

**Creation X** · 06-23-2010 06:54 AM

quick, unrelated post...Game induced lucid dream...GILD, sounds a lot like...GUILD.
OP made a WoW Reference.

quick, ontopic post...I've never tried this before, but it seems very interesting. I have had many dreams about video games, but none that made me lucid.

**BigFan** · 06-28-2010 01:22 PM

I didn't have a chance to read the whole thread, but, read most of it anyways. I think crysis is the best game to try this with, well, at least those that their pc's can run it, since, its gfx are as close to RL as any game has ever gotten

I'll try this in the next couple of games and report my results. This might actually work