Gaming and sleep/dreams

SeantheMan

This is a bit weird, and I'm hopefully not the only person here who it affects

I play games like most/all people here. Sometimes a lot, sometimes none.
I can at max maybe do 40hrs a week, and some weeks not play at all, so it's not like I am addicted in any way

In recent years I've had a ,....mmm....I dunno if you'd call it a problem, but basically, with certain games , when I go to bed my brain can't seem to turn off from it. And it literally takes over my thinking and sleeping.
Often times it can be a problem, and I can't actually sleep because of it.

Games that have caused it have been BF2, Mohaa, Starcraft 2, TF2 and RockBand.
However, games which I have played more often or as much as the above, BF3 , L4D2, Skyrim, Fifa, COD4 etc have never had the same effect.

I actually woke up 2 days ago, and my first thought was 5-S-D , (which is the key combination to build a drone in SC2) . I tend to watch more SC2 than I play.

It is at the point where I have to stop playing certain games at night and only play during the day because I can't actually sleep from it.
TF2 was probably the worst case...than and RockBand..where I had this constant set of buttons/colours coming at me to press.

Am I the only one who gets this ?...

As before, I am not addicted to gaming , I probably played about 10 hours max this week, and none last week. But when I do this often happens, but only certain games

Stercus Accidit

When I was working with autoCad full time I would dream in it, like you describe, I have had the same with Skyrim and other games in the past I am sure.

Washington Irving

Yeah, I get that way about games like Tetris, Guitar Hero, Rockband etc. Never really been a problem for me though

calex71

It's no different than being stressed from work or another hobby / tv, like I wonder who shot Jr. and mulling over the possibilities in your head.

When you lie down at night the brain has more free time to work on planning of what to do and meet targets, be it in your job or how to be better prepared in terms of doing things in a game or solving a puzzle.

degrassinoel

The last game related dream i had was after my renegade playthrough of Mass Effect 3 when I just couldn't bring myself to kill Mordin. In my dream, i killed the poor fecker and woke up in a sweat!

Gandalph

I remember I woke up in a sweat one morning, I was Crash Bandicoot and I accidentally hit one of the TNT crates and I was stuck beside it...3...2....1....WAKE UP and fall out of bed, long time ago now.

I also used to play WoW and I had a dream that some random druid or something was trying to death grip me so I kept saying in my sleep "your the wrong class your the wrong class", was the very first night I stayed over at my gf's and she had thought I was talking about being in school or something so I just went with it haha

aN.Droid

This used to happen me ALL THE TIME with guitar hero and rockband. My sleeping was so messed up at the time I had to stop playing the game!

kessler182

Recently i've been fairly regular games about DayZ... Just what you want for a blissful night's slumber!

Dcully

I had dreams about dayz before i even played the damn thing lol.

My cure was to actually play it

bizmark

I used to dream about eve online all the bloody time think its quite normal tbh

dreamers75

Same but mine are more constructive generally in some sort of design way, made an arse of loads of my own Arma 2 missions by letting my brain think adding more tanks was a good idea

papajimsmooth

I had a good few ones from dayz, usually involve being gunned down by a makarov when im fully kitted out

balkieb2002

papajimsmooth wrote: »

I had a good few ones from dayz, usually involve being gunned down by a makarov when im fully kitted out

That's not a dream, that's a nightmare

I haven't had them lately from games - more from a particular TV shows or movie I may have watched before going to bed.

deathrider

I used to have a very hard time sleeping after a heavy night's gaming. It still happens me from time to time, but not half as often as it used to. I just to go to mys sister's place back in the old PS1 days for a few games of Tekken with her and her mates. We always played on a winner-stays-on basis. Since the rest of them just knew a few moves here and there, but I played a hell of a lot of it, I pretty much spent the night beating up everyone. So I was constantly watching my one character pull out the same moves over and over and over.

When I was trying to sleep then, this would be all I could see. The fights would repeat ion my head, and random fights would also accour as I tried to get some kip. Over and over, the same punches and KO screens. Any time this happened, I'd never feel like I'd actually slept. I'd wake up the next day with what I call a video game hangover.

The Gnome

It's called the Tetris effect and it drives me bloody mental.

Another thing that happens to me now and then is dreaming the solution to a puzzle, it used to happen all the time with Zelda when I was young.

SeantheMan

In a lot of the above, people seem to actually get to sleep and dream of the games.
Half my problem is getting to sleep in the first place because the game keeps taking over my thoughts when trying to sleep.

Deathrider described it well with

When I was trying to sleep then, this would be all I could see. Any time this happened, I'd never feel like I'd actually slept.

Sarky

For a period of several months, I saw nothing whenever I closed my eyes but Meteos.

deathrider

The Gnome wrote: »

It's called the Tetris effect and it drives me bloody mental.

Another thing that happens to me now and then is dreaming the solution to a puzzle, it used to happen all the time with Zelda when I was young.

The Tetris Effect, eh? It's like Freddy Krueger for gamers.

Potential-Monke

I happens me quite regularly, and I like it. Stops me thinking about real life problems! If I'm tired enough, I'll drift off.

SeantheMan

Happened again last night.

Went to be at 1am, when I checked my clock it was 2.30am and I still couldn't sleep , I had to put on a "podcast" to get my mind off it and try fall asleep to that.

donalg1

I had dreams after playing Gears of War for two days solid pretty much, I woke up thinking the little screamers were crawling over me, was playing it with my neighbour on the co-op and he was the same.

I dream of CoD alot too mainly when I have been playing for a few hours just before bed

xiwang

It used to happen a lot during a time when I spent a lot of time playing WoW. Most of the time Shadow Fiends came out of the roads, and in just about every dream there would be bars to show who's friendly and who isn't and very often I would be in game-like fights in my dreams.

Lately this has happened to LoL where I tend to get to level up some random four abilities during a dream and have LoL gamemechanic features in an office or supermarket setting. One time I got to dress up Janna, which went on for hours (I dreamed sitting at a computer getting her a new outfit designed) and then afterwards make out with her. Actually quite funny but disturbing none the less. I tend to stop playing a game for a while when it happens and it normally fades away after a week or so.

Big Knox

Most of my gaming is done late at night right before bed and I get this big time and like yourself different games tend to cause the brain to take longer to switch off.

The absolute worst offender lately has been HoN. Any kind of long session before bed and I could forget about sleeping for at least 2 hours so I had to stop and wind down before trying to sleep.

Funnily enough some games have had the opposite affect and strangely they tended to be survival horror games like Silent Hill, Dead Space and Amnesia. You would think they would be sleep killers if anything but I would be straight to sleep. Although I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not!! :pac:

Mr Freeze

Ya used to happen to me too, so much worse when playing hours of Bomberman or Rockband, and you would see nothing but colours when trying to sleep then.

Now if I am going to bed at 12, I stop playing at 11. Definitely can't turn off a game and jump into bed, never gonna sleep then.

deathrider

SeantheMan wrote: »

Happened again last night.

Went to be at 1am, when I checked my clock it was 2.30am and I still couldn't sleep , I had to put on a "podcast" to get my mind off it and try fall asleep to that.

Had a belt of it myself last night too, but it was nothing too harsh. I played a fair amount yesterday, and then hopped straight into bed. I usually spend an hour or two unwinding with a movie, or mooching through youtube, or whatever before I hit the hay, and this usually stops this from happening, because my mind's focused on something else.. Last night though, I played till it was simply too late when I finished playing, and I simply didn't have the enegy to stay up for another hour or two watching stuff/reading.

Magill

Only game that really messed with my head was WoW... honestly.. that game can (At least in the earlier expansions) **** you up !

downwithpeace

If I play a game for a few hours before bed and get really caught up in it then the chances of dreaming about it are higher then normal.

titan18

Magill wrote: »

Only game that really messed with my head was WoW... honestly.. that game can (At least in the earlier expansions) **** you up !

Ya,WoW is the one game I played, where I got pretty addicted. Had something like 180 hours over 20 days, and dreamt about the game. Never went near it again

Lionel Messy

On a Pro Evo PS2 master league, I literally woke up in the middle of the night after dreaming of a Duncan Ferguson goal I had scored, it was a fantastic strike outside the box. I think I was considering dropping him at the time but I couldn't after that.

Completionist

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

When I was working with autoCad full time I would dream in it, like you describe, I have had the same with Skyrim and other games in the past I am sure.

AutoCad dreams? Sweet Jesus they would be strange! Although I bet your dreams built some pretty amazing objects...

FortuneChip

Mate had a "free gaf" for the weekend a few years back. Crate of cans, couple of Wagon Wheel Pizzas.

Played nothing but WAW Nazi Zombies and Resident Evil 4 - Mercenaries.

Constantly having dreams of bordering up windows, pushing ladders down etc to stop those damn Nazi Ganados!

Daith

I remember years ago I would play CIV 2 quite alot. One day I was sick with a cold or flu and sure I was bored. Played CIV 2 for most of the day. Went to bed and could not stop thinking/dreaming about moving items over a map all night. Hell when I just closed my eyes I could see it.

penev10

Lionel Messy wrote: »

On a Pro Evo PS2 master league, I literally woke up in the middle of the night after dreaming of a Duncan Ferguson goal I had scored, it was a fantastic strike outside the box. I think I was considering dropping him at the time but I couldn't after that.

Dropping Big Dunc?:eek: are you mad?!:D

My worst case of this happened when I used to stay up til all hours playing skirmishes on C&C Red Alert. All I could see were legions of small tanks roaming around all night.

v3ttel

Had one or two FIFA related dreams before, particularly about how to unlock some decent players defense. My head would be wrecked in the morning.

Retr0gamer

Never happens to me. The closest thing to it would be when I get obsessed with a puzzle game it starts playing over in my head when I'm not concentrating and I start seeing patterns in things. Happened to me with Meteos, Tetrsi, Puyo Puyo, Puzzle Bobble, Lumines etc.

When I do dream about games it's usually me dreaming about buying them. I'm a big retro game collector and I often dream of picking up bargains on rare games. Bit of a bummer when you wake up and realise you didn't find Radiant Silvergun for 20 in the local Gamestop.

Eggy Baby!

Thing is, this would seem really weird to someone who has never played games. If a parent, for example, heard this stuff they might not let their kids play games any more.

I had dreams about Gears of War 1 once. I always dreamed that I was playing on Gridlock (I did the same tactic every match over and over again so this could be the Tetris Effect) and was doing a runthrough of the map copying tactics I used when playing. It felt weird.

raze

Eggy Baby! wrote: »

Thing is, this would seem really weird to someone who has never played games. If a parent, for example, heard this stuff they might not let their kids play games any more.

I think there's a feature on dreams on the Inception bluray with a bit in it on computer games and dreams. Wasn't great, and I don't recall it particularly clearly - but I believe there is an argument for games being beneficial in cases of sleep disorders because many games are cyclic events where you face a challenge, and if you fail you face it over again. The repetition is training or conditioning, and the fear of consequences of failure can be diminished because the dreamer feels more control over events because of the remembered sensation from gaming, rather than being a passive observer or victim to a nightmare.

It was just crap they threw on there that was in any way tangentially related to Inception though - so unlikely to be respected research. But, an interesting counterpoint to knee jerk arguments against teh brainwashing games nonetheless.

deathrider

Retr0gamer wrote: »

When I do dream about games it's usually me dreaming about buying them. I'm a big retro game collector and I often dream of picking up bargains on rare games. Bit of a bummer when you wake up and realise you didn't find Radiant Silvergun for 20 in the local Gamestop.

Had a few of these over the years myself too. They make your morning coffee a little bit saddening.

Taltos

My last one was Skyrim related - casting fireballs from my hands. For some strange reason though I was doing all these silly movements to make the fireballs more intense or stronger. Just remember being convinced it would work and it definitely seemed to. Think it was a case of some TV shows influencing my dream of Skyrim.