Survey Results: Most Say Second Life Fosters Lucid Dreaming

Here's the results of last week's New World Notes survey, asking readers if using Second Life seems to foster lucid dreaming, in which a person has conscious control of a dream's content (you know, like being in Second Life). A clear plurality, 44%, say that it does. I'm the first to admit that the way I posed the question was spicy with confirmation bias, making an unscientific survey even moreso. Still, I think the results strongly suggest a significant percentage of active SLers do find themselves dreaming more lucidly than they did before using Second Life, and that's definitely a topic worth looking into with more academic rigor. (I'm going to contact Jayne Gackenbach, whose research on gaming and dreaming inspired this question, since she's the one with the professorial kung fu.) After all, since we spend about a third of our lives in the virtual world of our dreams, wouldn't it be wonderful to have a tool that helped make them more livable?

Comments

[Keystone Bouchard]

I often wonder if those who already experience lucid dreams would be quicker, or more likely to understand the virtual world experience than those who don't?

Over the years, I've grown confident that there must be some core psychological difference between those who immediately 'get it' and those who never do (with seldom any gray area in between). Maybe it has to do, at least in part, with previous experiences with lucid dreaming?

[Hamlet Au]

That's a good question! I also wonder if lucid dreaming with SLers is more predominant with heavy content creators, versus social users, etc. I spend most of my SL time writing about it and talking with people in it, but rarely build in-world; I have a lot of dreams that take place in Second Life, but rarely are they (or other dreams) lucid.

[Hitomi Tiponi]

I am sorry Hamlet but is this a 'significant percentage' in your terms or one in statistical terms?

[Hamlet Au]

Mine, of course.

[soror nishi]

Great survey, and totally expected results, I believe.

[Ziki Questi]

I've had dreams once in a while that take place in SL, and a few days ago (as I mentioned in a tweet), I had a absolutely bizarre dream in which my own two avatars became entangled in a physical confrontation with one another. (No, I am not going anywhere near trying to analyze that one haha!)

[Loquacia Loon]

My dreams take place in Second Life very often, and most frequently are about something practical like building things or putting outfits together. I reckon a big part of it is that SL seems to have made me a much more visual person than I used to be.