Imaginary people,i don't see them

[peoplesuck]

could only the people who have N over S answer the poll. I was wondering how many Ne Ni types had imaginary friends/ likes to play imaginary games.

 

[giumbai]

i personally not to long ago, i mean today had a few dreams that i was not sure it more events from the dream had happen or not, i needed to analyse it fot half an hour to determine that it was just a dream, it has no direct meaning to the poll, but can have because they both are based on imagination.

 

[Anktark]

What do you mean by 'imaginary games'?

 

[Pyropyro]

What do you mean by 'imaginary games'?

I assumed that it's any type of play where you use your imagination to make it fun rather than using an item's entertainment capabilities to make the game fun for you.

I guess shooting imaginary baddies with a broomstick counts as an imaginary game but playing Half-Life on your PC doesn't.

 

[Hawkeye]

When I was younger, I used to imagine a strange silhouette that would chase after me on long journeys in the car with my parents. I think it was inspired by some thriller movie I'd watched with my Dad. The figure would simply follow the car, but at a steady walking pace. It would gain on me at traffic lights, etc...

I had to stop doing it though because one time, the motorway became gridlocked and it made it to the car door. I never imagined what it would look like up close, but managed to freak myself out.

 

[wilsonwatsonc]

I created this incredibly elaborate world with my brother. I won't go into the details, it would take too long, but I wrote books upon books just describing how the world came into being, not to mention all about the world itself. I had "scientific explanations" for everything, from the motion of tectonic plates to post-apocalyptic warfare. It all led to the peaceful animal-run culture that filled my imagination. I'm not sure when we started playing the game, I only remember that we played it for years, and stopped when I was around 8 years old. Sometimes I wonder if I should try and write children's novels about it; I definitely have enough material, but who knows if it would be any good.

I also imagined strange things chasing after me in the car, but they were usually of a friendlier sort. Many times I would just imagine myself running across the fields outside or climbing across the telephone poles.

I never had an imaginary friend. I didn't like people who pretended they had imaginary friends, because I knew they were just lying. I loved my imaginary worlds, but I didn't like telling other people about them, much less lying to other people with claims that they were actually real.

 

[TBerg]

No imaginary friends, but I thought I was Jesus reincarnate for a while. I also like making up my own theology to mess with traditional believers.

 

[Pyropyro]

@Hawkeye @wilsonwatsonc My imaginary car chaser was a Transformer. It changes to robot form when it encounters obstacles like lamp posts but uses the normal car form when it's simply cruising along.

 

[BrainVessel]

When I was younger, I used to imagine a strange silhouette that would chase after me on long journeys in the car with my parents. I think it was inspired by some thriller movie I'd watched with my Dad. The figure would simply follow the car, but at a steady walking pace. It would gain on me at traffic lights, etc...

I had to stop doing it though because one time, the motorway became gridlocked and it made it to the car door. I never imagined what it would look like up close, but managed to freak myself out.

Interesting.
As a child I did something very similar. Every time I would walk down a hallway, or something else of the like, towards a destination, I would count down from the general number of seconds I predicted I could get there in. If I didn't stay in the specified time I set for myself, I convinced myself something would come and eat me or something. I would quite often be running across halls, as you can imagine. It probably went on for about 3 years and I don't recall ever failing to get to my destination in time.
I suppose that could be a game, but it terrified me.
Kinda creeps me out to this day.

 

[peoplesuck]

Can you touch your imaginary figures?

 

[Base groove]

Interesting.
As a child I did something very similar. Every time I would walk down a hallway, or something else of the like, towards a destination, I would count down from the general number of seconds I predicted I could get there in. If I didn't stay in the specified time I set for myself, I convinced myself something would come and eat me or something. I would quite often be running across halls, as you can imagine. It probably went on for about 3 years and I don't recall ever failing to get to my destination in time.
I suppose that could be a game, but it terrified me.
Kinda creeps me out to this day.

I have thousands of imaginary things like this, as well as Hawkeye's. You are both on the right track. Even at 25 years old the potency of some of them hasn't worn off.

 

[Rook]

I still engage in imaginary games from time to time.

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

I have thousands of imaginary things like this, as well as Hawkeye's. You are both on the right track. Even at 25 years old the potency of some of them hasn't worn off.

ha me too and i'm even older. if i can't hold my breath til the kettle boils/descend a flight of stairs touching only 2 steps/accurately count exactly x minutes in my head then i'll die.

the fun never stops!

never had an imaginary friend though but i did personify various inanimate objects.

 

[JimJambones]

I would often create my own imaginary world that I would envision and navigate through. While I didn't have any imaginary friends, when I was bored I would pretend someone I knew was with me and I would have conversations in my head with that person. I only remember seeing something that wasn't actually there when I was 3-4 years old.

 

[DelusiveNinja]

I am my own imaginary friend and everyone here has played some sort of implicit mind game at some point in our lives.

 

[Rook]

I have a persistent imaginary realm, with kingdoms, wars and distinct characters.
Unfortunately I frequently forget major details, so it is constantly being re-invented.

 

[Jennywocky]

No imaginary friends, but pretty much I always view the mundane through some crazy imaginary lens that gives it more metaphorical clarity, fun, beauty, etc. Kinda like seeing into another dimension.

 

[Red myst]

No imaginary friends, and I dont know what you mean by"games" But I did do things like use a scifi/Fantasy setting I had read about or seen on TV and use it as a backdrop for daydreaming about scenarios which included myself, some fictional characters, and a real life friend. (I typically had only one friend at a time as a child.)
I think that I used to play like I had an imaginary friend from time to time, but not to any great lengths. I also gave personalities to inanimate objects (toys).
I think the penchant for creating a complex imaginary personality from scratch would be a strong N characteristic. Possibly Ni?
For myself, I needed some outside influence to build on.
This carries on in adult life on practical problems as demonstrated by my propensity to reverse engineer an existing idea or object to suite my objective.

 

[kenshi]

I don't remember ever having an imaginary friend, but I certainly played imaginary games as defined by Pyropyro. When I was a kid, I was really into astronomy and almost convinced myself I was an adopted alien from Uranus. I was also into entomology and would pretend to be some kind of insect or spider. Fun times...

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

I used to make up my own strategy games with my own rules, then I used to imagine that there are other players, they were usually the kids I have known from school and then I visualised the battles or used simple objects, such as stones to act as units with some defined unit types, costs, etc.

So pretty much from the beginning I had fun designing systems and artificial settings, I haven't had a friend with which I could share this interest until high school, but I still don't have friends or acquaintances that could act as my partners in this.

I continue to use and somewhat rely on my imagination in a similar way, but it is more structured, otherwise it wouldn't be effective and productive at all.

So I didn't have imaginary friends and I felt lonely, but I used/use to imagine other people when I need them for my ideas.

 

[desgrey]

I still have imaginary friends..

 

[Ex-User (9062)]

i'm not delusional, but i like to play out different scenarios in my head.

 

[drive_you_mad]

I desperately wanted an imaginary friend when I was very small, but couldn't wrap my head around the fact that it would be a friend I couldn't physically see and had to come up with on my own. I think I just pictured them as a being that would just physically manifest in front of me and take me to the bookstore or tell me about dinosaurs or something.

 

[Cavallier]

Interesting.
As a child I did something very similar. Every time I would walk down a hallway, or something else of the like, towards a destination, I would count down from the general number of seconds I predicted I could get there in. If I didn't stay in the specified time I set for myself, I convinced myself something would come and eat me or something. I would quite often be running across halls, as you can imagine. It probably went on for about 3 years and I don't recall ever failing to get to my destination in time.
I suppose that could be a game, but it terrified me.
Kinda creeps me out to this day.

Same here except it was with stairs and walking out of dark rooms. I tripped once and had a childhood panic attack but I managed to scramble up the stairs to the landing and calm myself down. I was maybe 8.

I sometimes catch myself doing it now. I force myself to stop.

 

[Polaris]

I had/did neither, although I spent most of my childhood alone up to about 7. I do remember a strong wish to be abducted by aliens though.

I didn't understand other children's imaginary games. I mostly just played by myself with crayons and playdough, and spent a fair bit of time in the forest around our house. I saw many animals there, so I didn't feel lonely. When I started reading, I escaped into someone else's fantasy world.

I have very limited imagination, but I'm highly creative provided I'm given a few elements to play with. This is why I can come up with good snippets in a storyline and create interesting atmospheres, but to build a whole story is impossible. I always wanted to write, but I have nothing to write about, even after nearly a lifetime of experiences. I still don't understand people enough to build credible characters.

I would like to write a book for kids, though. I think I can do that. And I can make illustrations.

 

[EditorOne]

Last night I saw upon the stairs
A little man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish
He'd go away.

 

[Helvete]

Does seeing things on LSD count?

 

[EditorOne]

I'm pretty sure you don't mostly hallucinate on LSD, you instead see more of the reality that's out there. It always seemed to me it removed the filters that keep us from being overwhelmed with sensory input: The brighter colors got through, etc. But that might just be me overanalyzing.