Goal Tracking: The Department of Fractals (Dream Synthesis : Kinetic Waves)

[kineticwaves]

Movie/Video game worlds I have explored:

Majora's Mask
Ocarina of Time
Minecraft
Mirror's Edge
Doctor Who
The Sims
Atlantis
Tron
Halo

Others I'd still like to explore:

Harry Potter
Fantastic Planet
MirrorMask
Serial Experiments Lain (The Wired)

Lucid Dreaming things I would like to try:

Flying above Dubai cities at night time with this ambient techno music playing
Going through these Tokyo-esque tunnels in Tokyo maybe with a Capsule song playing
Visiting a tea house in Atlantis

[Caradon]

Wait I didn't know those were VR games, confused. Especially Halo as it's an Xbox game and as far as I know Xbox doesn't have VR.  At least it didn't last I heard.  Or are you talking about dreaming it VR? I have the PSVR. Do you have VR on PC?  I know there are different options on PC. But  then I've not looked at the new VR games for Playstation in a while. I've not even played it much in a while since I'm trying to enjoy my time with  the dog, and also concentrate on dreaming. 

[kineticwaves]

Oh! I just meant virtual reality in this case. Maybe I should specify... I meant worlds from movies/games generally speaking

[kineticwaves]

I just changed it to movie/video game worlds...

[Caradon]

Oh okay. You didn't mean virtual reality literally. I was wondering if you meant something like that. That makes more sense then. I was like wait, there is a VR Halo?! ha ha.  Yeah it's a little confusing if you say virtual reality. Because big difference between a movie and game on a screen in front of you, and actual virtual reality where you are actually in the middle of it.

Really cool that you were able to explore those places in a dream. I've had a few really awesome, intense, dreams about playing Skyrim  VR before. Wasn't lucid though.   

[kineticwaves]

Yeah! It would be cool to actually *be* in a VR for a bit haha. So how do you play the VR versions of games? Do you use oculus rift or whatever it's called or is that something different? I never played a game like that.

[Caradon]

No Oculus and Vive are for the PC. I have Plasystation VR, for the PlayStation 4. You don't know what it is? Sorry, I just automatically assume everyone knows what Playstation VR is, especially gamers. It's been available for a couple of years now. I've had it since the first day it was released. The most incredible way to play. The first VR game I tried, at a demo at Best Buy before it was released. Eve Valkyrie. A space fighter combat game, flying fighter ships like something from Battlestar Galactica. I was so overwhelmed and blown away by the fact that I was actually in space flying a fighter ship around these massive carrier ships... I was getting goose bumps.  When I left the store I was in a kind of dazed awe of what had just happened lol. I also played a shark cage demo at the store where they drop you deep down into the ocean in a shark cage, and the cage gets attacked and ripped apart by a massive  great white shark. I tried to kick the shark in the face when it was biting at my feet lol.  It's hard to believe it, or understand what it's like until you try it. Literally takes you into another world. Some people have a hard time with it though, if are sensitive to motion sickness it can take a while for the body to get use to it. Thankfully I never had that problem, and the first VR game I played for hours on end was the space fighter game which is fast moving and lots of barrel rolls and loop da loops in the ship, so got well use to the motion. The only time my stomach did flip flops a little is if I was looking out the window of my ship one direction, and barrel rolling the opposite way. But after a while that didn't even bother me at all.

They are already working on the second generation of VR tech which will be coming to the PS5 when that is released. I'm not in a huge rush to get the new system because I have a lot of awesome stuff to play already. And I'm trying to save money. But when they release the next Elder Scrolls/Skyrim game on VR on PlayStation 5 I'm probably not going to be able to resist the temptation. I love Skyrim in VR, I can only imagine what a new one, built specifically for VR will be like on the new systems.

[kineticwaves]

Yeah, the only playstation I use right now is playstation two, because I never got around to buying the other ones - but that does sound awesome!

[Caradon]

I skipped a couple of generations because of focusing on lucid dreaming and video games were too much of a distraction for me so I stopped playing all together. The last system I had was the original Xbox. Never had an Xbox 360, PS2, or PS3. I started craving racing because I've always loved racing.  Found out the PS4 was on the way and put it on pre-order when it was available to pre-order. I had no idea I'd be playing in virtual reality when I bought it lol.  But  if I can't figure out how the blend the two, I'm going to be giving it up again. Because I'd rather be lucid dreaming than playing video games. But I think I can do awareness meditations in VR, and maybe use it to enhance my dreams rather than letting the games destroy my dreams the way they use to.

For racing I have Dirt Rally VR with a driving wheel and foot pedals, it's awesome. Best driving simulator ever. Even more fun than my real life four wheeler in my opinion lol. I push the viewpoint up so I'm looking right over the hood of the car charging down the courses. Feels like I'm driving a little turbo jet. Very much the same feel to it as a real four wheeler or moto cross bike has. (I have both.) And between the realistic looking graphics and the realistic way the cars handle, it's an amazing racer.    But I like a variety of different games. Just saw there is a pretty cool looking VR golf game I'd like to try. VR is great for horror games too. I've played Resident Evil Bio Hazard in VR, amazing experience. Still want to finish my play through of that on the hardest setting.

 I played the beginning on the hardest setting. Getting chased around by the chainsaw wielding mutant chick at the beginning of the game on the hardest setting was intense. Lol. I tried to hide in a room and close the door, she was cutting right through the damn walls coming after me lol.

An added benefit of the VR headset is that you can watch movies on it too, on a movie theater sized screen inside the headset. And it plays 3D movies!.  Even if it didn't have VR I'd want it just for the movies... I watched Avatar 3D on it and it's just awesome to watch on it. Transformers 3D too. And they make some VR movie stuff that is amazing where you are in the middle of it... I was actually inside of a cartoon that was playing out all around me. And a big Rabbit even ran up to me and stated sniffing me lol. 

[kineticwaves]

Oh, yeah - that makes sense! Video games are a good hobby to invest in - BUT - they can be a distraction for other things if you get addicted to them. I don't know if you got addicted to video games, but I know that when I was younger - I did. Now, I still play video games - but I have a whole list of hobbies to select from and I kind of go back and forth between music, video games, watching movies, playing with my dog, creative stuff, and schoolwork. Lucid dreaming is a good thing to invest in! After all, who doesn't want interesting dreams when sleeping takes up 1/3 of your day?

I haven't played many racing games - Mario Kart and Need For Speed Underground 2 were the only ones I played, but they were fun! I feel like - even though I like video games - I haven't played as many as other gamers and replayed some of the same ones various times throughout my life. I remember being at my lunch table at school (community college) and people would talk about new video games and I'd be stuck in Zelda-land lmao.

Some of my favorite video games include: Legend of Zelda, StarFox 64, Final Fantasy X, Mirror's Edge, Undertale, Kingdom Hearts, Sonic Colors, Minecraft, and Fable. Most of them I beat more than once.

I would like to try the VR sometime, though. It seems pretty fun. I always found the idea of virtual reality quite fascinating and I feel like it would be cool to 'live' inside of it for a little bit. Technology is really freaking fascinating tbh - it causes problems in the world - but I love everything creative that can be done with technology and the benefits are amazing. Everything that can be done is just fascinating - and as an artist, I can attest to this. If you use it well and it doesn't become toxic and take you away from your relationships, it's good to actually make friendships (my best friend that I hope to meet in the future is somebody I met off of the internet and it's amazing how many likeminded people you can meet/talk to) and explore various possibilities. I want to try a 3D printer someday! As an artist, I think it would be cool to sculpt something and have it come to life after it was just digital.

That is my rant of the day.

[Caradon]

I'm actually more addicted to Netflix right now than the games. I've not actually played that much over the last year, but been playing a little bit here and there lately. My problem in the past is that I would get too excited over whatever game I was playing, and my thoughts would be more focused on that than my dreams so I would start to lose recall pretty quick. And it's pretty tough to stay focused on if you are dreaming or not while in the middle of an exciting game... Distractions in life, either good ones or bad ones can be bad for dreaming.

But I think I have a more mellowed out frame of mind for it now/the ability to not get over excited about it and put it out of my mind for the most part, and focus on dreaming. And with VR, especially a game like Skyrim. I can actually find a nice place to sit and do awareness meditations and still enjoy being in the virtual world. Or even just walking around in it questioning reality and doing RC's and all that. There are a lot of beautiful places in Skyrim VR. Can sit on a mountain side along side a stream or river overlooking the landscape. Or atop the walls of a castle, or sit by a fire, whatever, many amazing places to see and enjoy. It will be an experiment to see how well I can blend it with dreaming practices.

I know what you mean about being happy with a single game. I'm the same way. Without the VR I can play one game forever as well. Before I got my VR headset I played Dying Light more than anything else after it was released. I probably played it more than most people ever have. I have over eight hundred hours in Dying Light, and over a hundred thousand zombie kills. lol.  And I still love it when I turn it on and go parkouring through the zombie apocalypse. And can still have a blast going online and playing through the story quests with people that are playing it for the first time and enjoying their reactions to it.  But with VR there are so many incredible wow experiences, makes you want to try them all, lol.

[kineticwaves]

I feel like virtual reality games would inspire me to have better dreams and lucid dream just due to being in that mindset - and not just games where you're literally in the VR, but all games - as other worlds are strange within and of themselves - familiar yet distant.

I just played Ocarina of Time again today (well, I played it yesterday) and I love the familiarity that comes with it. It's familiar - yet distant - the worlds that are within the Ocarina of Time-verse.

I don't remember if I asked, but do you like Zelda? Sorry if I asked already lol.

[Caradon]

I swear I replied to your last post already. Lol. Must have gotten lost when the forum went down or something. I thought the forum was gone for good when I kept looking and all I kept getting was 404 not found.

Video games can influence dreams, and I've had video game dreams that transitioned into lucidity years after I quit playing them. But for me it's always been too much of a distraction and completely  ruined dreaming for me, completely destroying all recall. That's why I quit playing them completely. So that I could focus on dreaming, the awareness work, and inducing lucidity without the distraction. Because it's usually too hard for me to maintain awareness of if I'm dreaming or not, and  focusing on my dreams while at the same time being involved in some exciting situation in a video game. It's difficult enough for me to maintain awareness while watching movies and TV shows.  Or even interacting with people during day to day life even, and at work. Ever try to maintain a conversation with someone while at the same time trying to be aware of everything that is happening in the moment, and questioning if it's a dream. And maintain that awareness throughout every conversation throughout the day. Not losing track of the conversation and what you're talking about. And trying not to forget about staying aware of if you are dreaming or not. 

 It's like trying to maintain two trains of thought at the same exact time for as long as you can without forgetting and tuning out one of them.  It's not at all easy. But for a while I was getting pretty good at it, and inducing a good amount of lucidity. Having streaks of lucid dreams four nights in a row sometimes when my concentration was good and I was focused enough on it.  But it's even harder for me to maintain that kind of focused awareness while playing a video game. And when getting too involved in it, forgetting about dreaming altogether and being too focused on the game.  Therefore, the beginning of the loss of recall, and lucidity...

But I'm trying to experiment with VR differently. Thinking of it like just another room, or place. And doing the awareness work in VR.  Even if it's just in sitting  on a virtual mountainside along a stream, and not really getting too involved in the distracting events of the game if possible, or if so, be questioning everything that I'm doing while I'm there. If I can anyways. It's an experiment... Or just hanging out by a fireplace in VR.  Or relaxing on the deck overlooking the mountain lake. The same way that I would sitting out on my porch, listening to the waking of the morning song birds. 

But there has been a couple of other things distracting me too the last week or so. Making things difficult. I've only been playing a little bit of VR golf here and there the last week. And I rode the scary rollercoaster in Rush Of Blood a little to try and incubate some scary monster dreams.  I did recall a little bit of a haunting dream because of it. I've not had time to record the few dreams I've recalled lately either, so that doesn't help any. 

I never did play Zelda because I never had Nintendo. I think that's a Nintendo game, right? I always had Sega and Playstation. The first Xbox. And a couple other old ones that are no longer made. Panasonic 3DO. Colecovision. Atari. I'm sure I would have liked Zelda  though. Sounds like it was one of the most popular games for Nintendo that everyone mentions.

 

[kineticwaves]

Yeah, MortalMist goes down a lot. Eventually, I'm going to save all of my dream entries, in case it dies.

That's pretty cool, though although I can see how it would be a distraction as well. Yeah, because you need to be aware of your surroundings irl for better lucidity. I guess through some conversations you would lose track of whether or not you're awake or not.

For me, personally, though, certain scenes in video games (esp. Zelda) feel like second home to me. Personally, I'd try to focus on that.

A lot of places in Zelda are kind of ... chill.

Hope you can recall some dreams again! I sorta remember my dream from today. Gotta write it down.