I just wonder what the purpose is of all those techniques? Is it just for fun? Can I get more practical benefits from LD?
It all depends on you. People like me will mostly LD for fun purposes, while others will do it in order to try and talk and interact with their subconscious minds, to know certain thins about themselves.
Fun, self-discovery, practicing skills (some people say), release, it is what you want.
I would like to come in contact with people I know in my dream and TALK to them, have conversations which normally are hard to have in real time. I mean, talk to THEIR subconsciousness and find out what their real thoughts and feelings are…i would also like to share my own true thoughts and feelings which are hard to explain in real life and lear to share them in real life, you know - be my subconsciousness and not my “social” consciousness…
how long is a piece of string?
why eat pancakes?
what’s the deal with gravity?
…everything is relevant if you give it a good enough reason.
don’t know why to LD? just randomly pick a reason and follow it.
Yes, it depends on you. Some use it for fun. That in itself is a perfectly justified use. Others seek to aid in developing their creativity. Still others are involved with spiritual issues and view LDs as a tool for spiritual development.
Take your pick.
Eoghan
I guess the purpose of LD depends. I just recently started getting into LD since I joined, and the few times I do get an LD–usually with WBTB or DILD–I usually just try to get used to the feeling and test out the new ability/experience, having fun simultaneously. I think I’ll use it for problem-solving later on, though–you know, when I’ve become more accustomed to the feeling and everything. 
Yeah, I guess there’re many usefull things you can achieve with LD… For me personally, LD would be a means by which I could get more confident, rollplaying in my dream… and of course, seeking contact to people I know in real life and talking to them. Will they still be a side of my self, or would I talk to their real selves? That would be a form of telepathy, wouldn’t it?
Last night I dreamed of having a lucid dream… I only remember that I dreamed and that I wanted to have a lucid dream in my dream… maybe I want it so much in real time. Is that the first step to real LD?
What you do in your dreams take splace in your ownmind, people you see are just part of your subconscious… so, no. Some people talk about shared dreams, ut I don’t really believe in such a thing… 
Yep, it is a pre-lucid dream, means your mind is getting use to the idea of being lucid. It shouldn’t take long before you have a proper good LD. 
Some people have used LD’s in such a goal, for instance preparing themselves before a stressing event. It’s a good goal.
Telepathy and shared dreaming are possible, IMO, but they are very rare. You should think that people you meet in LD’s are dream characters… until you will verify the information. 
I moved your topic in the First Steps forum, cause questions and answers here can interest beginners.
Shared Dreaming… ah, the wonders. I’d love to have one, as I’m sure lots of people would. You should find someone halfway decent at LDing and try to communicate every night, that’s what a few forumers are doing.
In my LDs I like hanging around with my SG and doing a few random things. Ever use a handphone? Put your fingers into a phone shape and you can call all your Lala Land friends for free. 
Re: valkiria
For anything you want to achieve or overcome, there are ways to do it in real life. If you really want to solve something, dreaming should not be the primary choice. Because there are insights behind those problems and there is no need to reinvent the wheels.
[color=darkblue][size=100]About confidence:
To have confidence is to understand the value of yourself. As long as you are in a role where you provide, you will have confidence. People who have issue about confidence have not recognized what they can provide. Therefore, you gain confidence by providing. For example, if this concept sounds true, by following it, you become a provider.
About sharing hard feelings:
I think that this depends on the situation. Unlink confindence, this has a lot more to do with the dynamics. Sometimes something is hard to say because the person you want to speak to knows you. So in your mind, it feels like a gamble between the risk of harming a bond and your desire to express. The solution involves getting the right information on whether the risk is as bad as you think. In general, if the person you want to talk to is very close to you, the risk probably is much more mild than your imagination. It is because the person is probably expecting you to say what you feel. The closer that person is, the more she is prepared to your message subconsciously. If the risk prevents you from expressing what you feel is right, maybe you are taking advantage of the person. In that case, you will be able to express by becoming independent. When you are independent, the person you talk to will know that you say what you said for herself, not to secure any other form of interest. [/size][/color]
Since people covered quite nicely the “you can you them for anything you’d like” part, I’ll share with you some of the reasons I LD.
First off, the reason that is also behind how I found LD4All and started trying to induce LDs: to fight nightmares. Think about it for a second. You’re in the middle of a most terrible nightmare, and you suddently realize it’s just a dream. You are inside the dream now, you can do whatever you want, you can ask your mares why are they doing this to you, or why did they say that specific line that stuck in your head. You can try and make friends with them (Death has become quite a good friend of mine), or ask them never to come back.
A second reason is that some people 
wave:) don’t have a religion or serious religious beliefs, but need make contact with their spiritual side. A dream is something that was made by you, inside you, and that will never leave you. It’s something that you have to decipher, for you don’t know what inside you made it, and with what intent. Just meditating about dreams does wonders to people—for one, you will get a feeling of knowing yourself a little better. So that’s another reason for LDing: it’s a nice complement to the whole getting–in–touch–with–your–dreams thing. It’s like a field trip to your dream—no, scratch that. It’s like… Okay, you have your god(dess) you have your creed, right? You experience them while in waking life, but just that—experience. You also experience that spirituality when you remember your dreams and meditate about them. Now, when you get inside a dream and become aware that you’re dreaming—for me it’s like you just got an interview with an angel or something: while you are in the dream, it will no linger be a faint experience, but something concrete, something happening in real time… Do you get the idea? I don’t think I’m making myself clear, but I hope you get it.
You can also have fun. Seriously! That’s probably the best reason for LDing! Sure, flying may also be a spiritual experience to some extent, but think about how fun it is! Imagine for a moment that you’ll wake up and have a memory fresh in your head that yesterday you were flying. Or jumping, dancing, summoning things and making stuff disappear… Maybe you meet your SG, who will most likely become a really nice friend of yours… Even lifting cars with your hands—everything in a lucid dream is so neat and fun! You can enjoy the most out of them, unlike normal dreams, in which you’re stuck to a plot.
Well, these are some of the reasons I could think for lucid dreaming. I’m not an avid LDer, I don’t try autosuggestion or WILD every single night, and I never RC. My LDs are mostly natural or induced for a reason. I like my normal dreams a lot too, and I don’t mind being a long while without LDing. But I can’t deny how nice it is to have a lucid dream once in a while. It’s the best.