Whitechapel - Video Games = Crank?

Video Games = Crank?

Nevin — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:36:05 -0800

Hello,

So lately - while I try to avoid writing and the guilt of not writing - I've been burning out my brain with Call of Duty 4.

I like shooters. They are the insta-high of games. You run around on tiny little maps for a few minutes shooting dozens of virtual people who are shooting at you. It's pure positive feedback-loop once you get good at it. Very much a high.

By the way, I'm all PC gaming, so the whole consoles-are-fun-too thing eludes me.

I've been dreaming like I'm in the game. I've been dreaming about planting claymores and tossing grenades and never, ever being able to get my bullets to go where I'm aiming. Not nightmares, but just horribly awkward dreams of failure.

Anyone else have the same sort of experience? The whole, your brain is stuck in a virtual world at night, like it's fucking sure as hell you really, really need to reprocess the eight hours of gaming you just put in? Cause, you know, if it wasn't important enough to dream about why did you bother in the first place?

My brain doesn't seem to realize I need to reprocess the weak character arcs of my latest shebang.

Video Games = Crank?

IsenMike — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:20:02 -0800

I once had a dream that was in the style of a Lucasarts point-and-click adventure game. That was really weird.

Video Games = Crank?

Futty — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:20:02 -0800

I too have been down the Call of Duty 4 hole for a couple weeks now. It is my morning stimulant. Well, there is coffee too. The 40 minutes of balls out violence is the perfect thing to get the adrenaline flowing and psych me up for a day of work. If you can start your day by getting 7 consecutive kills and calling in a helicopter strike on your enemies, the frustrations of the commute are that much easier to take.

Alas, my nights are rarely intruded upon by gaming dreams anymore- mostly just the vague sense that the baby is crying- waking up to silence, and repeating 2 or 3 more times. I wish I could game enough consecutive hours to bludgeon my subconscious mind into gaming mode.

Video Games = Crank?

Jacen — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:44:13 -0800

I spent about a month of my sleep life living in DOOM back in 94 or thereabouts but I was doing a lot of psychedelics back then. More often these days I'll have the structure and flaws of a game's interface pop into completely normal dreams. It can be very frustrating when you mind is trying to micromanage assets in a completely unstructured dream environment. I had Battlefield2 dreams a couple of times when i first bought the game.

And COD4 is fantastic. I just this week upgraded my vid card to a GeForce8600GTS from a 7300 and it is a whole new world. That game, playable and entertaining before, is now like teleporting into a real place. When I have the time I plan to see how this new setup runs Gears of War and Crysis.

Video Games = Crank?

tulpa — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:47:03 -0800

Last time I did LSD, I thought I was in the Grim Fandango afterlife. That was a lot of fun.

Otherwise, I rarely have gaming dreams. It happens more with PC RPGs. Lately I've been having Star Wars dreams of revealing how fucking evil the Jedi are, because I've been playing Lego Star Wars 2 and Knights of the Old Republic.

Video Games = Crank?

Mike Black — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:11:17 -0800

I play too much Battlefield 2142. (The Dali of the Battlefield series...) So I will often hear someone yelling "Supply Drop In Your Area" in Russian in the back of my head.

Video Games = Crank?

Fauxhammer — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:59:32 -0800

All I know is, I have a 360 sitting in the garage just a-waiting for Christmas morn.

KILLING ME.

Video Games = Crank?

Sarpedon — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:22:33 -0800

I've heard a lot of good things about Call of Duty, and managed to not know it was out for PC and not just the 360. Looks like I should look into playing that because Steam will not take my money when I try to buy HL2:Ep2 or portal which I hear is short but good.

Video Games = Crank?

MJSM — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:33:53 -0800

For a while I dreamed in terms of Snood, then later Puzzle Quest. Only puzzle games seem to make it into my subconscious. It makes for some interesting nights.

Video Games = Crank?

Red Scharlach — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:49:37 -0800

Call of Duty 4 is one of the best feats of story-telling in gaming to happen since Half-Life 2. It also has a few interesting issues relating to how we handle war media, especially the image of modern warfare, brought up as well alongside its political stance, and is all the more successful in these regards for not bashing your head over with them, focusing on the entertainment and involvement it rewards you with. I suppose what I'm saying is: If you're hesitant about this one because it seems like a Clancy-esque, "our boys" kind of game, I can assure you it isn't. It's a blockbuster with a point, and Infinity Ward got all the lessons from Valve right. It's good to see people in the industry who know what they're doing and are being genuinely progressive and smart with their material in the main light.

It's a far sight better than Halo 3, in any case. I don't think Bungie have ever topped the Marathon trilogy.

Video Games = Crank?

roque — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:02:52 -0800

whenever they release a new Onimusha game, I dream of sucking out souls.

Video Games = Crank?

MonkeyBusiness — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:53:42 -0800

I'm so bad at computer games that I've just stopped playing them completely. It's really quite sad. I'll still get a 360 though, once I've picked up enough pennies off of the street.

I wish life was a Lucasarts' point-and-click game.

Video Games = Crank?

axel of evil — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 04:23:37 -0800

>use computer with the internets
You write a post about how your friend told you that he always has that dream about running through a house full of zombies; always ascending higher and higher until he reaches the roof where he is totally surrounded by zombies; and that is always where he's out of ammunition and finally awakes, soaked in sweat, fearing to fall asleep again. Like a computer game he simply can not win. You also mention that you thaught that this was awesome, but still are quite happy that it was him who got the dreams, and you that plays the games
>_

Yeah. Life should definitly be an adventure. I'd love the "save, try, reload" feature :)

Video Games = Crank?

IsenMike — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:17:13 -0800

Oh god. I've had zombie dreams at least three times in the past few years. That shit is awful. One time I actually woke up screaming. Scared the shit out of my then-girlfriend. Usually spend half the morning still feeling terrified and hopeless.

Video Games = Crank?

hemlock_martini — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:50:09 -0800

I used to have DOOM-fueled nightmares, back when I played it for hours on end. DOOM mixed with the "Alien" movies, to be precise; along with the creeping dread of being perpetually low on ammo and overrun and outnumbered on all sides by something eons old and practically invulnerable. Something about inevitability.

Video Games = Crank?

hank — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:20:21 -0800

Portal really jumpstarted my juices. TF2 is good for a laugh. WoW is just game rule systems analysis at this point.

Video Games = Crank?

Solario — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:30:52 -0800

I find that if I don't meditate 10 minutes a day (which I haven't done for quite some times now) I often dream about the games I've been playing in some bizare amalgamation with everything else I do.

After Bioshock I constantly dreamt of being stuck in a Post-Bad Ending world. It was pretty embarassing. And for some reason I'm never the hero. I always end up being cannon fodder or just not being able to do it properly. I'm afraid of what that says about me.

Video Games = Crank?

Lazarus Long — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:31:29 -0800

Almost every dream I remember involves zombies - either kicking ass Bruce Campbell style, or being helpless and surrounded by an infinite horde. Although there was one non-zombie dream where I could quicksave my life. That was a good one.

Video Games = Crank?

boyanachronism — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:11:19 -0800

I once dreamed the soloution to a puzzle i was stuck in with a Discworld Pc game.
And at the moment in playing so much MASS EFFECT on the 360 that ive started dreaming about it.

Video Games = Crank?

Benny — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:14:56 -0800

Man, what I wouldn't give to have dreams about video games instead of just dreams about me falling to my death... Which could be video game related, I guess...

The closest "gaming that's affecting my reality" experience I've ever had was this one time that I had to keep reminding myself that I'm not in GTA III, I can't drive erratically... while I was driving.

Video Games = Crank?

JaredRules — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:53:38 -0800

Oh yeah, speaking of GTA III, my weirdest "I should slow down on the video games" moment was after putting in like a 10 hour GTA III session at my friends house, and on the way home I kept having an urge to get out of the car and steal the police car that had pulled up next to me at a red light.

Video Games = Crank?

thom_wong — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:23:55 -0800

All the time. I can definitely echo the previous two posts - every time I would pass a motorcycle while walking home from work I had to remind myself, you can't take that. In fact, you can't even ride one. It made me realize how useful/criminal it would be to simply avail oneself of any vehicle lying about. I wouldn't do it all the time, mind you, just when I got tired of walking.

Whenever I play a game where I can slow down time I always think I can do it in my dreams. They will be fairly normal, otherwise - shopping, walking around, reading - but at some point I will always think, hey, I'll just slow down time to get through this, and then the dream me has to say, wait, you can't do that.

I'm destroying my PS2.

Video Games = Crank?

xtal — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:36:35 -0800

I've been working my way through Final Fantasy X, which my roommate got me hooked on, and have had a couple dreams about getting in fights with people but it's like it is on the game, with HP and MP and being able to cast spells and shit. The dreams were more funny than anything.

Video Games = Crank?

branjo — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:35:21 -0800

xtal, if you like FFX, you should try stepping back a few "versions" to FF VIII or even FF IX (VII is a classic and goes without saying). The fighting mechanics are similar, but the story line is more open with lots of roaming. FFX, in my opinion, is hindered by (*ahem* a condescending, goo-goo-girls-are-cute script) a very linear mapping system, where exploration is hindered and leveling is non-adventurous.
FF VIII has simliar character design, while FF IX is more cartoony.
I put FFX aside several months ago, because I'm a completist and the leveling was becoming annoying.

Me, I've been playing Guildwars for almost 2 years now. Still finding new stuff to "do." No monthly fee and large community and very little "grind." i recommend it. sadly it's windows only...

Video Games = Crank?

pygmy — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:44:48 -0800

I have 3 exceedingly elderly computers dedicated to nothing but playing cheesy adventure games from the late 80's, early 90's. I've been playing the new, serialized Sam and Max game nonstop for the last few days. FPS games make me carsick, and my computer's never good enough. I've never owned a console. I can get sucked into Snood for days at a time.

My sister's really into MMORPGs, but they only make me want to stab people in the face. I'm allergic to teenagers and bad spelling.

Video Games = Crank?

xtal — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:01:29 -0800

branjo -

My roommate said basically the same thing about liking other versions more, for basically the same reasons. I'm just playing it because it isn't horrible and we've been spending all our money on holiday gifts and booze. My boyfriend just got a part time holiday job at a store that sells used CDs, DVDs, and games though...so maybe I can use his discount to pick up a couple other versions of FF.

We'll see.

Thanks for the info.

Video Games = Crank?

MonkeyBusiness — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:16:27 -0800

I've been thinking whether I've had any video game dreams and I'm pretty sure I had one a few years back, in which I was a character in the SNES classic 'Zombies Ate My Neighbours'. It was fairly pleasant, all things considered.

Video Games = Crank?

videocrime — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:20:52 -0800

I've always had significantly more heist-planning/execution dreams since my recent GTA/The Warriors PS2 kick.

Before Guitar Hero, I dreamt I was an awesome guitar player. Those dreams happen less and less.

Video Games = Crank?

Angurvaki — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:33:57 -0800

I remember getting Counter Strike and Warcrack dreams, but the thing that really freaked me out was when I started dreaming Tetris.

Video Games = Crank?

xtal — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:35:07 -0800

I still have my old SNES out and Zombies Ate My Neighbors is in it right now. I was playing it a few days ago.

I never get tired of Super Mario World or Super Mario All Stars either.

Video Games = Crank?

JaredRules — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:50:13 -0800

I've never had an actual DREAM about Tetris, but fuck if I don't still play that game in my mind all the time. That game is totally sexual on a subconcious level.

Video Games = Crank?

Kunundrum — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:13:58 -0800

I'm playing loads of NES and SNES games on an emulator. Go to Oldiesgames.net for emulators and a good amount of roms.

Video Games = Crank?

DJ — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 02:12:37 -0800

There was a very bizarre horror game called Siren (Forbidden Siren in the UK) a while back that had one of the better premises for a game I'd ever run across. It did the usual you-visit-a-remote-village-and-hey-they're-all-zombies thing but turned it on its head. You get there before everything goes batshit, but when it does, you're not told why. That's the whole point of the game is to figure this out.

The storytelling is also presented in an incredibly original fashion. You control 10 different characters, and the "stages" are more or less random timeframes from the 3 days the game takes place. When a stage starts, you're simply told the character's name, their location, and shown a running 72 hour clock. Clear that stage and you may jump back in time to play something that happened 3 hours earlier with a different person, or hop ahead a full day and play through the terrible aftermath of some catastrophic event, only to spend the next 8 levels intermittently playing up to that event with the other characters, again knowing what's going to happen, but not knowing why.

Also, the "zombies" in the game are quickly revealed to be anything but. For one thing, they're not dead. In fact, they can't be killed. Ever. You can beat them down and do your best to kill them, but the best you're going to get is maybe 2 minutes of downtime before they stagger back to their feet, wounds healed, giggled madly and then chasing you down and killing you. They have no problems climbing up ledges, opening doors, using flashlights to look for you, or running very fast.

All of this takes place in a village that has been plunged into pitch dark and suddenly surrounded on all sides by a red sea. Also, as the game slowly reveals, your characters are slowly turning into the same zombies (in one stage a character you're playing as makes the transition without realizing it). It's some of the best psychological horror I've ever sat through.

There's a great review over at Insert Credit.

Note that the game is abysmally hard, which kind of kills it. We're not talking fun-hard either, we're talking insanely-unfair hard.

Point being, it remains the only game that's ever given me nightmares before I'd played it. Everything I read about it convinced me it was going to be brilliant.

And it is. It's just also near-impossible to play. Best plot I've come across, but crippled by some of the worst gameplay out there.

Video Games = Crank?

DONAR — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 03:30:02 -0800

Having your brain stuck in a virtual world thing? Yeah. I know that one. When MGS II came out I had a tendency to want to stick close to walls when I walked around. Splinter Cell had me subconsciously preferring to walk in shadows at night and avoid well lit areas. Halo and Res Evil just gave me goddamn zombie nightmares and no other change in brain activity.

And contrary to media speculation, I've been a solid GTA junkie since the first PC games and I'm yet to shoot people indiscriminately, beat a hooker to death with a bat or steal a car and run over pedestrians. That's what Red Bull is for.

Video Games = Crank?

CraigRJ — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 03:41:23 -0800

Oblivion on the 360...I'm too busy to play games, yet somehow I've managed to clock up 60 hours on the 360 with this game so far (since buying it last month) and I haven't even got around to starting the main quest yet.

Addicted, what's that?

-- CraigRJ.

Video Games = Crank?

MonkeyBusiness — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 03:55:12 -0800

I have Forbidden Siren, DJ, but I don't think I've played it since the day I bought it. I started playing it, thought 'what the shuddering fuck', and turned it off. I should really give it another go but, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, I'm, well...abysmal at computer games. I have trouble getting through option menus, nevermind the games themselves.

Video Games = Crank?

euchrid — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:20:18 -0800

The only game that's really hacked my brain recently was Katamari Damacy. I definitely dreamed that more than once. I seem to remember Syndicate popping into my dreams more than once in high school as well.

Video Games = Crank?

myndbreaker — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:16:48 -0800

When Gran Tourismo came to the playstation, my friends and I played for up to 14 Hours a day...
I was racing the whole night in pixels and textures and when i finally woke up in the middle off the night i could go back to sleep happily because i knew from that point on i was racing in my dreams too, but htis time in 'real life' images....

Even if I play a lot of ego shooters i never dreamed them..

Right now, I'm playing mostly the orange box from steam (portal is a really nice game ;) ) and exploring the open-source ego shooters (so back to my quake3 days...)

Video Games = Crank?

Owl and Fox — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:45:27 -0800

a long long long time ago when I played resident evil: code veronica i would dream about it. it was strange, awesome, thrilling and then, when i woke up, i realized that maybe i needed a break from the game. it is cool and pathetic all rolled into one... sleeping bag?
In my now over writing class we watched a video, shown on discovery recently, about video games and the future of this technology. Emotional responses are the goal and if people are getting that response- crying, laughing, fear - this sentence seemed relevant 5 seconds ago.

I like that Myndbreaker mentioned 'ego shooters.' That is exactly what they are, yet I had never heard that term before. I am out of the gaming loop.

Video Games = Crank?

C.O. — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:45:59 -0800

THE CAKE IS A LIE!

Portal was awesome. I'm playing Assassin's Creed for the 360 and Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. I'm really digging them both.

Video Games = Crank?

lamuella — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 06:52:45 -0800

I once had bad dreams about a browser-based game. That's when I knew I needed to play less.

Video Games = Crank?

Brand — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 06:59:03 -0800

I've had several video game related dreams over the years. The one I remember best was the Castlevania one. For most of the dream it was like a one of the old school NES/SNES Castlevania games. I can remember the last boss of the level was a big blue goddess type thing that took up the whole screen and whirled books or some such at you. The character died in that battle, then there was a game over screen with a skeleton coming out of a coffin. Then the dream just switched to me playing this game, and I was like OMG I need to tell everyone I discovered a hidden level in Castlevania.

Right now I'm mostly playing my PSP with Jeanne D'Arc. Though I just saw that Okami is coming out for the Wii so I might have to get a Wii to play that game again.

Video Games = Crank?

Ian Mayor — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:04:43 -0800

I thought every gamer had had the Tetris dream.

I too have been enamoured of Portal, (which might be the first feminist FPS), a really pure design built on such a simple mechanic I'm amazed it hadn't been done before (other than it's forrunner Narbacular Dro)

Has a real sense of humour too.

Video Games = Crank?

adamncopeland — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:03:35 -0800

A very very long time ago, Star Control II was the only PC game I owned. I played it for 8 hour clips late into the night, until one night it began to invade my dreams and (seriously) I believed that I was piloting a giant Precursor space ship towards Ur-Quan territory. I kept being awakened by my fright of being reduced to particles.

Video Games = Crank?

Sean K — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 21:05:19 -0800

I would get the video game visions after marathon session of City of Heroes a couple of years back. Not dreams persay, but more just my brain needing 30 minutes or so just to get re-acclimated to the real world while laying in bed.

Video Games = Crank?

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 21:07:06 -0800

If life was a Lucas Arts game, it better be Monkey Island. Shame that they started focusing on the Star Wars franchise almost exclusively.

Oh and Crank moments?

Playing WarCraft II in the late 90s lead to dreams where I'm cursing the screen saying "Need more Oil! Need more Oil!"

System Shock at about the same time made me go around looking at idiots and saying "You Are Pathetic"

WarCraft III later on and I heard Riflemen while walking on screen.

Before that, there was less crank and more thrill. The classic Sierra/LucasArts games were beautiful and the idea of exploration kept me addicted to the game for hours on end. While this happens less frequently nowadays, I believe this is partly due to a more jaded review of games and partly because I've found books and film to be far more engaging in the past few years.

But if they ever bring back Guybrush Threepwood or anyone from Maniac Mansion, I'll be hooked again.

Video Games = Crank?

pygmy — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:59:21 -0800

LucasArts and Sierra games are some of the main reasons I own actual old computers to play them on. I could spend a month dicking around with various emulators and patches and still not be able to play them correctly, or I could just bust out the dinosaurs and rock some original Sam and Max, or Maniac Mansion or even Rogue!

Video Games = Crank?

hyim — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 06:21:07 -0800

also tipping my hat to Portal ( The moment when you realize you are actually in a valve story, this is not just having ironic fun with a strategy game... when the fourth wall is actually broken right in front of you and behind it you read "the cake is a lie..." it freaked me out . Beautiful game design.

Video Games = Crank?

tmofee — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 06:36:59 -0800

The new Sam & Max games are brilliant. A little too short, but a lot of fun.

I remember years ago I used to have dreams of Gabriel Knight - Sins of the Father when I first played that. So much story all about voodoo and celeb voices..., just got me sucked into it.. Those dreams were fucked up.

Video Games = Crank?

Mycroft — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 10:59:18 -0800

I tend to get more addicted to puzzle and strategy games. The Civilization series being the worst/best. Tetris has always been the worst for me when it comes to dreaming in video game though.

Video Games = Crank?

John Smith — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:02:48 -0800

The Wii has brought my once thriving interest in videogames back. I just finished playing a few hours of Super Paper Mario-- which is, I've got to say, a twenty years late sequel to Super Mario 2. Really looking forward to Galaxy.

Then again, I'm easy to please. I downloaded SMBIII last weekend and did nothing that Saturday but play. Presently stuck on level 7 but loving it. Every videogame character should be made to wear a raccoon suit at some point.