Here is the second instalment of my blog where I try to decipher the links between games and the unconscious mind. Some of these dreams are quite freaky and not as ‘simple’ as the ones I mentioned in the last blog, so beware.

Call of Duty 2

My dream of CoD2 came after a long night spent playing LAN with a few friends, beginning at about 9.30pm and ending at 2.30am. I have not gamed like that since maybe GTA San Andreas, and needless to say it was rather inevitable that all my thoughts that night would be a psychosomatic continuation of team deathmatch and capture the flag. Only that I was playing these modes in my dreams against various people I have met throughout my life and either ‘zooming in’ on old school bullies or yelling out “cover me” to favourite high school teachers, all people I have not met or heard from for at least 5 years. I seem to dream a lot about the people I have met previously, but never in a FPS context. Strange.

Dream Analysis Theories

Mourning lost relationships. Hmm I’m not sure. I, like anyone else, would have their favourite school teachers and friends from the past who we;ve lost contact with, and to dream of them has got to be normal. People move on and you get on with life right? I reckon this was just a random dream without any real significance regarding past relationships. But I must admit, chasing down your old nemesis and rifle-butting him is pretty satisfying.

Playing too much. Obviously a 5-hour straight session of any game is gonna screw with your mind. But if 5 hours is bad, imagine what was going through the mind of that guy who played for 50 (?) hours without sleeping and died? And the rest of those WoW gamers? I’d go nuts if my dreams had elves and dwarves in them, but too much game time is potentially dangerous to the mind for sure. Getting warmer.

Keeping up dem rifle skills! Yes, I was on a roll that night and all my single-bolt rifle shots and fancy jump-shots were hitting their intended targets. On such a roll, in fact, that I had to keep on shooting through the night, as you do.

The Sims 2

What not to do when playing The Sims (or any other game for that matter): get emotionally attached to the characters. Why? Because if you do, this is bound to get you while you sleep. With the original game you could start a family but your kids would stay kids. In the sequel though they took it to the next level: an endless cycle of life which I had to, after declaring my independence from this addiction, put a stop to by uninstalling everything and giving the CD away to some poor soul unlucky enough to count me as a friend. I would always start the game by living a nice bachelor lifestyle, meaning that I’d make myself comfortable in a small house but one which was decked out with the best furniture and technology. Until I got married, that is. Or should I say until I got married and had 6 kids. That is the really freaky part about The Sims: seeing your likeness on your virtual sons and daughters. My Sims-related dreams have been numerous and not-too-savoury. One of them was about me holding my new-born infant daughter, staring into her eyes and saying “she’s beautiful!” This was happening in the game, that is, instead of an avatar of me it was really me: I was stuck in The Sims. Another weird dream I can barely remember featured fire: this time it was about rescuing my virtual family from a burning Sims house (which I had designed myself by drawing up the floorplans in real life, a process that took far longer than it really should have) and yet I would constantly get trapped by falling debris while trying to help my kids escape. Now I reckon the ‘burning house’ scenario is a common nightmare theme, but surely not burning Sim houses. With children who are meant to be yours but who do not exist in real life. Sick.

Dream Analysis Theories

Fear related to a loved one. I want to clarify something: when I played this game, I did not base any characters on people I know in real life. Apart from me of course, but that’s a given. Therefore any attachment I form with these Sims people is entirely separate from real life. And so a fear about a loved one could not be a valid theory, as I am essentially detached from my virtual family as opposed to my real family. (Notice how I am desperately trying to prove how un-sad I am with Mickey Mouse reasoning?)

Dislike of children. 6 kids is a lot, even for a game. I adopted 2 and four were with my Sims wife …ok I’m sad I admit it. I do like real kids but don’t plan to have any quite yet. Definitely not 6 anyway.

Fear of fire. As mentioned in Part I, I was once a young casual backyard pyromaniac so fire should not be a problem. And I learned from the game…buy a smoke alarm to protect your family, especially when little Cindy begins cooking as a hobby.

Fear of fire from crappy TV shows. Ever watch Home & Away? Probably not, because it’s an Aussie show that is a bit like Neighbours, which I used to watch as a kid and as far as I’m aware it is only broadcast internationally to the UK. Anyway, the story is all about different families and the random things that happen to them, and one very old episode featured a character having a nightmare about a house burning down which later came to life. This episode freaked me out, not so much the fire part, but because he was trapped behind bars which had been installed in the windows. So yeah, this show is the cause. Nothing at all to do with my unhealthy obsession with the game.

Doom

The most vivid dream I have had in my life, ever. Here’s the description, if you can be bothered reading it: I am in an all-white room that somewhat resembles a hotel room. There is a large bed, bedside table and lamp, all white. Bright white light is shining in through the window. It isn’t a very large room, and it is shaped like a cube with approximate 5x5x5 metre dimensions with a balcony. When I go out on this balcony all there is in the distance is a wide open space, and the horizon is the one out of Doom…you know that semi-2D/3D scrolling pixellated glitchy background that always remained ‘flat’ no matter how you tried to move around it? It was like that. As I peered over the balcony into this Doom horizon, I felt like something dangerous was coming. I could feel it, and yet I cannot see what this thing is that is chasing me. But I know I have to run. On the balcony there is a Ghostbusters-like pole with a hole which I can slide down to escape, and I do this very quickly and can feel the butterflies in my stomach. At the bottom the white light disappears and it is all dark, but somehow I know where I am and where to go. From here I keep running, and eventually my path takes me into an abandoned and extremely damaged wooden cabin of some sort which resembles the remains of a shipwreck, only without the furniture or the water – just the splintered and black wood. And that thing is still coming; I can hear its footsteps getting louder and faster. And then the dream ends. I wake up with a mixture of emotions, but am mainly just confused.

Dream Analysis Theories

Dislike of white rooms. I’m quite okay with white rooms. They’re bright and quite peaceful, as opposed to a blood red room.

Fear of being chased. Maybe. But then everybody hates being chased. Unless it’s by gorgeous members of the opposite sex. But whatever it was that was chasing me in this dream, it certainly was not Phoebe Cates, Jennifer Connolly, or Rachel Weisz.

Fear of graphical glitches. That Doom background was well dodgy, I mean it was a 3D game with 2D sprites, so something had to give. And glitches can be scary, like the blue hell one in GTAIII or getting ‘stuck’ in any 3D game. But honestly how could a simple glitchy backdrop like that lead to such crazy visions, where the heck does that come from?