Different people behave differently in the dream world. For example, what do you do when a maniac chases you in your dreams with a knife? Do you freeze in place or fly away, easily growing wings? Or do you fight without fear? Do you realize you are dreaming?
Your behavior in the dream world depends on your personality and experience. For example, Canadian scientists have found that gamers dream differently than other people – they are better at controlling themselves in the dream world. This helps them cope with nightmares and even deal with mental trauma!
Two virtual realities: biological and technological
We all dream 3 to 6 times a night, but we don’t remember much of what we see. Why we dream remains a mystery, although scientists have put forward some convincing hypotheses. Dreams are built from fragments of daytime experiences. When we sleep, our brain continues to work with the information accumulated during the day: it is more deeply absorbed and remembered. (This is why it is imperative to sleep for a few hours before an exam.) Perhaps dreams are a byproduct of this process. In addition, in dreams we often solve problems – we think up answers to the questions posed during the day (and then may have an epiphany in the morning) or “live out” life scenarios that worry us.
Dreams and video games are remarkably similar. Both immerse you in a “virtual reality”: you feel that you are entirely in an imaginary place where your physical body does not actually exist. You are often endowed with superpowers (e.g. you can run through walls) or you are limited (e.g. you cannot speak). The virtual world changes according to special, sometimes absurd laws, but its strangeness does not surprise you too much.
In addition to dreams and video games, one also plunges into “virtual reality” under the influence of drugs, under hypnosis, and during meditation.
Players see other dreams
Canadian scientists have suggested that problem-solving skills in one virtual reality (video games) carry over into another (dreams). To do this, in a series of studies from 2006-2016, they compared the dreams of gamers and people who do not play video games. Researchers used special questionnaires to collect data, and asked participants to describe their recent dreams and analyzed them. “Gamers” were considered people who played more than two hours several times a week and went through more than 50 video games in their lifetime.
It turned out that gamers have more vivid dreams. While dreaming, they sort of split up: watching their virtual body “from the third person” – like a camera flying over the character’s head – and simultaneously experiencing what’s happening “from inside” that body. Their dreams are characterized by their absurdity: an abrupt change of events and actors. In dreams, people often lose some abilities – for example, to walk or scream. Gamers overcome these limitations more easily – they actively control the events of dreams, change their appearance and abilities. At the same time, they are more likely than non-gamers to realize that they are dreaming.
Nightmares are afraid of players.
These characteristics also manifest themselves in nightmares. Not only do gamers experience less fear in the face of imagined danger, they often become a threat to their pursuer themselves! In other words, when they dream of a maniac with a knife, they don’t run away, but rather pull out the Blades of Chaos and call upon an army of the undead to help them. Instead of terror, they experience strength and fun.
Canadian scientists noticed that players’ bad dreams were full of aggression even less often than those of non-players. However, when aggression did occur, it was far more bloody and intense. At the same time the player was not a passive victim of violence, but an active combatant.
Unfortunately, only male gamers show resilience to nightmares, not women. According to some reports, female gamers are even more affected by nightmares than women without gaming experience. The reasons for this are still unknown, but scientists have suggested the following. First, the women and men in the studies, on average, preferred different genres of video games. Men mostly played Call of Duty and League of Legends. Women, on the other hand, preferred casual games such as Mario Kart. It seems that military video games are better at developing skills to deal with virtual threats. Secondly, women react differently to threats in life than men do. It doesn’t depend on their gaming experience. They are not prone to aggression and prefer to flee from conflict. However, in nightmare dreams, it is often the aggressive response that is the most reliable, and trying to escape leads to fear and helplessness.
Video games help the military, too
Fearlessness in nightmares is especially necessary for people who face death in the real world. These may be military and police officers whose lives are often endangered, witnesses to disasters and terrorist attacks, victims of domestic violence, and so on. Exposure to death can traumatize the psyche and lead to the development of what is known as “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD). Among other symptoms, PTSD victims suffer from frequent and severe nightmares: according to some reports, 71 to 96 percent of their dreams are nightmares.
Can the experience of playing video games help people at risk? In a 2011 study, Canadian researchers compared nightmares between military gamers and military gamers without gaming experience. They found that the dystopian dreams of military gamers are not as threatening as those of their comrades. In nightmare war dreams, players felt more powerful and in control. Some even found such daydreams exciting.
Perhaps playing video games interferes with the development of PTSD. Realistic war video games make people less sensitive to violent scenes. Also, vivid visual stimulation within 6 hours of mental trauma may prevent people from remembering horrific scenes that caused mental damage. Interestingly, some military personnel are drawn to playing video games precisely after combat, although they cannot understand why. Perhaps it is an unconscious craving for the drug.