The marketing team behind Diablo IV continues to prove it’s either extremely creative or taking some extremely powerful substances. The latest marketing stunt from Blizzard’s OARPG is literal Nightmare Fuel, a long-form audio experience that’s supposedly been designed to help induce lucid dreaming, albeit with a more Sanctuary bent to it.
“Slip the world of Diablo into your dreams with Nightmare Fuel, a themed Dream Incubation Audio Experience! Created alongside Dr. Leslie Ellis, a leading expert in the use of somatic approaches in psychotherapy, this long-form audio experience invites listeners to become the hero of their dreams through lucid dreaming and will provide them with the tools to take control of their sleep.”
This eight hour-long set of dark ambience starts with about 20 minutes of “guided intentions,” followed by soundscapes from the game, audio cues meant to induce lucid dreaming during REM sleep, and then a “gentle reminder” that’s built to wake the listener up in the final few minutes. The whole thing even has a mini-documentary featuring Ellis.
It’s hard to say whether this falls into the thought process of dream incubation or the more sinister targeted advertising that plays while people sleep as one scientific paper suggests, though considering the source it may well be the latter. Either way, this latest… thing can be found on Spotify or YouTube.
