Yesterday I tried running through trees and rocks - straight through, without even holding my breath.

I'm impressed by the fascinating attention to detail of the world builders. Although our fawn bodies have no apparent mass, and we usually just pass on through as if we were ghosts, I'm just discovering some of the subtle effects that are triggered. So far I've found the sounds as I get close to the large tree and the almost imperceptible music that sounds a little like bagpipes when I run through the large upright stones.

I really like these interactions between our bodies and the world which seem to give us more substance.

But, although I love the ethereal nature of this 'substance', I have to confess that I also like a little gravity.

I think I read somewhere that some stags have learned how to 'fly' and walk on water, but I like it when my fawn stumbles on the ground or bumps into outcrops. When I forget to click, my crow stops flying and falls back to earth in a satisfying and slightly comic fashion. I was kinda hoping that, if I jumped in the pond, I could sink down to the depths like a fawn scuba diver, but instead I turned into a frog. At any rate my frog stayed on the surface and I could swim slowly over to the fish.

By the way, is it just me or is it snowing?

Nice.

I tried to escape from the Endless Forest today ... and discovered that it isn't so much endless as bent around on itself so that I ended up where I started.

I assume that the boundary operates as an exit and entry point. There's no clear sign of this, however.

Of course, I don't have any real proof of this at the moment because I can't make any 'mark' on this forest. So when I come to an identical place I don't really know if it is the same place or not - if you see what I mean. (I'll write a blog about the need to make a mark later).

Does this matter? I'm not entirely sure. But part of my new fawn self seems to want to run and run for ever without ending up where I started. I want to chose whether I mingle and mix with other fawns and stags or whether I wander off into the wilderness.

Perhaps I should confess at this point that I am almost Canadian. In the process of gradually becoming Canadian in sensibility I have learned of the importance of 'untamed' wilderness as a (kinda) spiritual place. Part of its spiritual value comes with the ability to escape.

Well, you might say, this is supposed to be a community. How could it function as a community and as an emerging story if everyone wandered off into the wilderness never to be seen again? And, if you said this, you would have a good point.

Well, I feel like a complete newbie. I used to play around in 3D shared worlds. I even lead a project that created a VRML world for a new university. But I don't really have an RPG or even a games playing background.

What attracts me to TEF, I think, is the fact that it makes a point of calling itself a 'screen saver' and of deliberately not establishing a gaming environment with set goals. I'm interested in environments that provide a release from goal directed and strategic action....And the graphics are great.

I'm not totally convinced by the 'fawn' thing. Is the idea to make newbies feel somewhat vulnerable? I realize that it's not supposed to be sexual at all, but I really don't want some stag getting too up close and personal here.

Anyone who has grown up with modern games would probably find all the controls really quickly by trial and error (a generation Z thing). But, as an oldie, I'm still trying to read the manual. Unfortunately I'm having trouble finding one - so I can't work out how to do basic actions like eating, drinking or checking on spells.

GW