Thank you for reading : )

It is the way of people, it just irritates me that this is one of the few games that sought to step outside of that, but it ended up stepping right back in. Not that I was trying to personally overthrow this place, but I wanted to write my opinion on it : ) When I mean forcing and things like that, I'm referring to social pressures, because the site enabled a society to form. I do agree that people would like to meet each other and such, but I figure what was best for this game was to leave everything unnamable. I think it was made to be that way ^^

I'll go one step further. I honestly think if not for the forums TEF would be largely a ghost town. New deer would arrive, interact, lose interest and leave - not that this doesn't happen plenty even with the forums. There simply is not enough social interaction within the game, IMHO, to garner this sort of popularity. Think about it: would WoW be so staggeringly popular if your social interaction was limited to waving, nodding and giving querulous looks? I doubt it.

Secondly, this "nobody" syndrome is not unique to you. ALL new deer go through this phase, which you would know had you read some of the old forums. Yes, people who socialize on the forums coordinate meetings in game and hang out with one another regularly. This is precisely the point of the forums - to further connect us, not to cut us up into cliques. No one is "forced" to write a personality profile for their deer. No one is forced to keep their set (though after a 2 hour spell-spamming session trying to get an ideal set, you can understand why some are keen to keep them). No one is forced to RP (Lord knows I certainly don't). This forum, like the Forest, is an artificial construct, existing nowhere but inside of a tiny server somewhere in Belgium. Utopia isn't real - there's a old man behind the curtain pulling knobs an twisting dials.

That doesn't change the truth of what you already know about TEF, and it shouldn't! The ONLY reasons I go into the Forest are exactly the reasons you describe - sitting alone in the sun, listening to the frogs and crickets on the wind, greeting fawns and nameless deer and playing with them amongst the trees - none of this has anything to do with a single line posted here on the forums! The bottom line is that if reading the words posted here and looking at the artwork produced by our little community was in any way a detraction from TEF, I wouldn't participate. I'd still go to the Forest, I just wouldn't log in here. To the contrary, I find the forums have much enriched my time the Forest, and have helped me to understand not only the individual deer I call friends but also the community at large.

I felt exactly like you do at first - like an outsider looking in. There was so much happening, so many stories already written, so many circles seemingly closed to newbs. It seemed like no one would ever know the name Yorres, that he would have no story, that no one would draw his picture or become his friend. And I openly griped about this, much as you are now. I called TEF a "technocracy", with the games elite enjoying near magical powers while punks like me sat around eating pinecones and mooing. Long story short - I was wrong. The community was quite welcoming to me, and as I too became a more regular player of the game and contributor to the forums, more people recognized my picto in game (and vice versa) and my experience was vastly improved. Many of the regulars want nothing more than to help you, welcome you and show you the ropes. They want more regular players! Look at CelticMystress' Lightbringers, an entire organization dedicated to seeking out TEFs newest players in order to make them feel more welcome and at ease both in forest and on the forums.

I ask you to give us all a second chance, and if you really give us the opportunity you will see that very few of those who post here wish to exclude anyone. We want to play with you and enrich your experience! If that is still too much to ask, you could consider ignoring the forums entirely and just play the game. To my mind, the forest has not changed as much as your perception of it has. If the forums are really ruining your TEF experience, no one can force you to log into endlessforest.org and read what is posted here.

Whew! That was a long one. Hang in there, Kiwi. I can tell you have a sensitive and caring nature, and we really need more people like you in the Endless Forest!

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"Mystery within mystery, the gateway of manifold secrets..." Yorres, Lightcreator

Thanks Liëka and Io Rez, even though this topic wasn't created by me, you sure opened my eyes a little more. ^^

To pray is to believe, to believe is to purify one's soul

Thank you Avani, Io Rez, Lieka, and Her : )

To be honest I thought I was going to be greeted with haters ^^' Thank you for responding so kindly Sadly though, my internet is too slow to connect most of the time. I'll give it a few more shots, but I may be confined from further playing. Still, I'm in love with the intent of the game, and will play it regardless and try to forget about the things that will make me hate it. I was surprised someone remembered me ^^' well, maybe I am on the outside looking in.