As I attempt to enter the comforting embrace of sleep my mind wanders over many topics. Today I had to make a backup copy of a computer drive that would take 18 hours to complete. I would have to leave the program running overnight. I was actually pleased by this as it meant I would be asleep for the largest chunk of remaining time. This recalled to me all the times I had played computer roleplaying games and “slept” to speed up time.
Games like Oblivion, Skyrim, Might and Magic all feature time skipping via sleep. The real world reflects this because of how we perceive sleep. Sometimes it feels like no time passes at all between shutting and opening of your eyes. Yet the clock confirms that a myriad of hours have passed. This is perceptual sorcery. With the conscious mind at rest, we seem to lose our inherent time sense until we fully wake again thus creating the feeling of time jumps.
On some level, I think I was always aware of the time skipping properties of sleep. If there was nothing to do or I was stuck in a holding pattern I would often set an alarm on my phone and meditate until I fell asleep or found inner peace. Spoiler warning, I still haven’t found inner piece but at least I’m well rested. Power outages were another event that could be skipped through sleep. Whenever the Power went out I would always curl up under a heap of blankets and sleep. This method successfully kept me from being bored and cranky while awaiting service.
It’s so very amusing to me that sleeping in role-playing games and sleeping in reality, both cause time to pass faster for us. So now my fellow player characters take this knowledge and go boldly into the future. Every one of us is gifted with a perceptual time machine in the form of naps. No more waiting and no more midday crankiness is only the closing of your eyes away.