Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable." -- GK Chesterton

We all make choices. Most choices don't really matter. They are just a preference one has. It is when we have to make a choice between two evils that we find out how we think. We like to think we are one way or the other. We are not. If we view ourself as evil, a rule breaker because we just like to get a reaction out of everyone, or feel we are entitled to take advantage because of circumstances allow us we become disoriented when we find ourselves touched by someone or something and we suddenly become benevolent and caring. If we view ourselves as good, a follower of the rules just because they are there, and we tend to sacrifice our self and needs for others, we become disoriented when we find ourselves touched by someone or something and we suddenly become malevolent and callous. Good and evil live side by side inside our conscience and unconscience mind. It is often in group interactions that our dark side comes out. We do things to ourselves and others we normally would not do. In these times a new element of anonimity is added because of the internet. It is a veil, a thin one, but it is a veil which gives us an illusion of the ability to do things without being known. We may not know each others given names, but we always know each other by our choices.

The game has many mirrors. The pond in its waters reflect the surrounding landscape. It is not a direct reflection. It is muddled and a little less clear. The Twin Gods are a reflection of each other. The white pelt it gives reflects every other white pelt given. The skins, masks, and antlers only have so many combinations and so upon occasion you find a similar deer to yourself, a reflection visually, but you notice each others behavior is different.

I believe very strongly that when it comes to desire, when it comes to attraction, that things are never black and white, things are very much shades of grey.
Brian Molko

We like to think that the world is black and white. That everything is defined and boxed in by a set rules or better yet a ruler who makes all the decisions for us and therefore relieves us of any responsibility or accountability. The world is grey just like the grey fog we played in these past couple of weeks. There is a change that occurs in us when we put ourselves into the grey whether in this world or the game world. The hidden social rules seem less important and new alliances are formed and then new ways of doing things. It breaks our habitual patterns of thought and makes us less certain of the rules we conduct ourselves by. Even the zombie deer puts us in the grey. Recenters us so we can choose anew which way we wish to go in our personal moral codes. Despite anyone's best effort the world and our own moral codes travel with us into the fog. Early on when one reads the forums the hints abound about the fog and the zombie deer with its special gifts. We notice certain deer have pelts and antlers and skulls that we just cannot seem to get. It sets up an expectation of something special for those chosen few who have the knowledge. Is it really knowledge, or a gift? Or is it another way we trap ourself into a patttern of thinking or rules that binds us rather than frees us. The fact is you do it to yourself. You cast the spell that changes you into the zombie and since the event occurs only occasionally, instead of just playing you begin to think of the ways and means of keeping your zombie persona which of course is just like everyone else's zombie persona. It becomes precious to you much like the ring was precious to the Golem in Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. It owns you.

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.
Author: Norman Fitzroy Maclean
Source: A River Runs Through It

I am haunted by waters. Water touches our lives in so many ways as a blessing and as a curse. Before we are born we are entombed in water in the womb. When we are born we are placed in another womb where we have to find the water and its many meanings. Our very bodies are mostly water and all water is a side product of the birth of stars. As a star is born their is an outflow of gas and dust that in a shockwave thrusts itself into the others gas and dust and the result is the birth of water. Water is a the main element of earth and without water there is no life there. It is a central component of religion and spirtuality. It is said the nearer one is to water by ritual or in dreams the nearer one is to the divine consciousness. It flows and changes all it touches and carries away what ever it cleanses. It releases the darkness and poison in us when our tears flow. Its sounds many times soothe us but ofter frighten us when it rages during a storm or flood. When experiencing the endless forest I and others are drawn to the water. There is this need to hear it, to drink from the pond, and to listen to its sound. The rushing water from the stone mother figure is a comfort. The mother is big enough to entomb oneself in if needed. It is a place to stand and clear ones mind. The water cleanses us from unwanted spells or sometimes one just wants a start over cleansing and takes a dip in the pond. Occasionally like life I just fall in and am transformed. I am haunted by waters because I know to be touched by the waters is be be changed.

This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be part of nature. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy. Susan Polis Schutz

As one who has lived a while there is much truth in this quote. A forest is a community. Everything has a purpose and a niche to fulfill and there is no one dictating the rules or the yes or no. There is only being and experimenting. I have played games, but this is the first interactive internet event that truly creates a community. Having no rules, no text, and little cultural trappings forces one to recreate community everytime you play. The same deer are never there so every time you choose either to play alone or establish relationships with the others. It simulates a walk in forest not only symbolically visually but also how we feel, and think while there. It lets us work out our feelings, stresses and anger in a safe way. It includes the deepest part of ourself our spirit by the visual symbols chosen to represent a forest. In a short time you create with self and others an intimacy among a group that is rarely experienced in our modern life. It is one of the few sites that plays to our best self instead of our base self. That is one of the things art does for us. It lets us experience our life and spirit in a way that is pure and honest with out all our cultural trappings and let us take journeys in the dark and negative without all the usual consequences. Then it allows us to come out on that other side refreshed and renewed and leaving as much dark as we are able behind. I am always looking for something different and this is different. This is not truly a game. The creators have found a way to make art interative in a hands on sense with a group.