Headshot Dreamin'

109:19/18-3 DM Harbor

I'll get back to those figures in a moment, just wanted to write them down while they were in front of me.

For years, my dreams have been invaded by whatever activity I may have been concentrating on most at the time. As an avid gamer, video and otherwise, this often means dreams about games. I can recall the patterns of Mega Man 3 stimulating my rapid eye movement or a book's of worth backgammon positions flashing through my mind as I lay sleeping. This is not uncommon for me.

Part of my interpretation of this effect comes from my background in psych. I'm not going to bore into this issue ad nauseum as not to alienate those uninitiated nor to reveal my own lack of authority on the subject, but please indulge me for a moment. Sleep is important to memory, as anyone who has stayed up for two or three days straight could tell you. Attempting to recall some of the basic things you did at the beginning of the period, such as what you ate for breakfast the morning of day one, are nigh impossible. Science also tells us that a part of the brain called the hippocampus replays activities of the current day while we sleep, and this plays a central role in memory consolidation, or the transfer from working memory into long term memory.

This entire process is not entirely understood by the scientific community, so I feel no great guilt in referencing it without complete detail. The point is that these elements of games are experienced during sleep, much as they are during the day, just as any activity, virtual or not, may be. In some cases this facilitates latent learning.

It is through this lens that I mention that after marathon sessions of Portable Ops Online just before bed, I've had dreams that centrally involve shooting people in the head. Headshots, you see, are the absolute most important skill in the aforementioned arena of electronic competition. Sure, some n00bz will get a kill here or there with a shotgun blast, or a few swipes of a machete, but if you want to dominate in MPO, you better get used to aiming for the head.

Now, back to those cryptic numbers. 109:19/18-3 DM Harbor. My best score ever was 109 in a Deathmatch at the Harbor. 109 total points, 19 kills (18 of which were headshots) and three deaths. A real killing spree. I have to attribute this to having a group of below average players in that round, as even when I do happen to be the best of the six, I don't dominate to such a degree.

Of course, when you mention to people that you've been having dreams about shooting people in the head, they look at you kinda funny. Without a little background it can be unnerving for someone who knows you to hear that your unconscious mind is obsessed with executing anyone that comes into their field of vision. But, in MPO and most any other online shooter, whether it be first-person or third, the headshot is admirable. You see, I don't become angry or upset when a bullet finds its speeding way into my gulliver. If throughout the duration of a ten minute match someone continuously catches me off guard and lands death dealing blows right between my eyes, over and over and over, it becomes something almost fraternal. Like a big brother dishing out noogies. It's similar to a salute in a way. Although, you can perform a salute in MPO, but doing so leaves you momentarily open to a headshot, natch.

Even though I may try to explain these aesthetics to those unfamiliar, I can't help but think they may come away with a negative impression. In retrospect, perhaps I shouldn't mention these kinds of dreams to the people with whom I work. I suppose this is the sort of talk one should reserve for blogging.

Now if you don't mind, I have some heads to shoot.