I don't generally remember dreams. This is probably good, as most people don't like to hear about other people's dreams. But I remembered enough of a recent one to be able to provide a solid example of how many of my dreams contain game elements.
Being Shot At
There was a sniper in a bush in a forest. He was angry with me for some reason.
Non-Realistic Behavior
Because he had decided to yell at me before shooting, I was able to take cover behind a tree. As long as I didn't pop out for too long, he could never kill me.
Stupid Buddy AI
I had a friend (face unseen, felt like a bit player) with me who the sniper was also shooting at. Despite the fact we needed the sniper alive (for no reason he suddenly had launch codes or defusing codes or some kind of codes that we needed), my friend shot him in the chin.
Functional Terrain
We grabbed the wounded sniper and headed towards wherever we needed to get him patched up. The second we left the forest, we entered a flat gray section of terrain, obviously not real ground. Behind us, the forest curved away on either side, like an island in a sea of undefined terrain. Ahead, like a much larger island, was a large flat area of vaguely purple terrain with a river running through it. The river was flat and not running. It started to our right. Instinctively, we moved towards it, knowing we could run along it to close some distance to our base because nothing would spawn in it and many creatures wouldn't even enter it.
Spawning
The completely barren nature of the purple terrain was ominous. We hoped to be able to clear it quickly enough to avoid any inhabitants. We were boned. After crossing maybe ten meters of terrain (just enough to make it to the river) creatures and plants started spawning in on a grid, every two meters. They just faded into existence in a wave from behind us to in front of us.
Impossible Knowledge
A giant yellow orange polygonal blob spawned just in front and to the left of us. Somehow, I knew it was a giant slime and represented trouble. It had no sense of us, so we got out of its way, and watched as it crossed the river behind us and went "south".
The dream ended shortly after that, with our sniper's conditioning worsening, and my AI buddy laying him in the empty terrain the slime left behind to attempt emergency surgery.
The dream probably says a lot about me and why I play games. They create worlds where I'm at the center of action, safe, and understand what's going on. I can't even remember having a truly horrifying nightmare since I was a young child (pre Atari 2600).
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