Walking and talking at the same time
Posted on: November 7, 2006One of my oldest wishes in Second Life is to more naturalistically walk and talk at the same time. When you think about it, it's downright strange: offline, you see people walking and talking without giving it a second thought, but in Second Life, you might as well be looked at as a freakshow. (OMG HOW DO YOU DO THAT!??)
Timeless Prototype, IIRC, created a scripted bag for last year's Relay For Life which allows you do the walk while you talk, propelling you forward. I also recall Rickard Roentgen made something similar too. (All these old memories!) but the problem, then, is you still need the keyboard to steer, and most people type with two hands.
What does that leave, then?
Feet.
Like playing the piano, you can put your other limbs to use. I'm surprised it's not more popular (then by now, I shouldn't be…), but thanx to Phantom_Gunz on the Maximum PC forum, I learned about the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, which JustTech'n.com has a great review of (cute name!). They look kind of expensive and I checked pricing @ NCIX, but I'm serious about making moves — literally.
Imagine: a world where avatars are liberated to stroll hand-in-hand and engage in lovey-dovey conversations whilst typing. Even if we're able to use (audio) voice chat solutions, there's still a lot of SL that needs to be controlled with your fingertips. Plus, putting all your limbs to good use keeps you that more active on your computer.
I'm open to a field of solutions at this point, so if you've been using this or other hardware to walk and talk at the same time, by all means, please drop me a line and make a comment.
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November 7th, 2006 at 9:57 PM PST
This is a stop-gap solution, but what about a click-to-move interface option and an on-screen speed "throttle"? You'd click on spots on the terrain to lay down a movement path for your avatar, then chat away, at least until your avatar neared the end of the path, at which point you'd need to click to extend it further.
It's not perfect, but it would work well for people who don't want extra peripherals.
If you just wanted to walk around a park or something, you'd be able to make a looping path, too. Just lay down the last node of your path on top of the first one, once you got around that far.
November 7th, 2006 at 11:41 PM PST
Josh, thanx for your comment. Aha! Not sure if you heard the idea circulated before that left-clicking should do something by default on terrain (as it currently doesn't). Setting waypoints is akin to a RTS (Realtime Strategy Game) and also has machinima purposes. I know currently you can script objects to do that, and, say, sit on a navigating cube to be carried along on a path.
One thing that madly frustrates me (but perhaps is an "evil" necessity) is how archaic traditions continue to hold on for many years. A good example is how the piano keybed form is used with synthesizers, in large part due to familiarity — and cost as a result — and more radical forms haven't been experimented with. It's encouraging whenever I do see improvements, like scroll wheels on mice (indispensable for zooming in Second Life) becoming more commonplace.
November 8th, 2006 at 12:39 AM PST
You're right about the synths. How about something sensitive to pressure and touch, like a graphics tablet? Take it a step further by making it a touch screen, and you could have any kind of (flat) interface imaginable.
November 8th, 2006 at 1:11 AM PST
Hmm…I wonder if a modified Dance Dance Revolution dance pad might be the way to go here? Using the pad, you could not only move with the arrows, but trigger other actions with the corner buttons (Square-Circle-Triangle-X for PlayStation-style, A-B-X-Y for Xbox-style)–and still have your hands free to type.
This might be worth experimenting with, especially if one could find a dance pad with a USB connector.
November 8th, 2006 at 8:25 AM PST
The auto walk for the Relay for Life is up there as one of my favorite SL experiences I'd love to see more of. (Hiro worked on that too–I made the special request to him for it.
The idea was precisely this kind of chatting while moving. Man, it felt and looked so good to start the auto walk with a group of friends and take in the changing sights while chatting, looking around in mouse-look, and, as happens, peppering each other with various forms of weaponry :).
From that experience, I have to say another real difficulty of the walk and chat is synching your movment with a group of friends. Doesn't do much good to chat with (or unfortunately at!) someone as you whiz right by them. But the group conveyor belt action is hot. I was talking to someone yesterday about Moriash Moreau's real life bicycle that controls movement in SL. I wonder if the local gym would mind if I duct taped my MacBook to the top of an exercycle :). I wonder how many words I can type in a mile…
November 8th, 2006 at 11:36 AM PST
I made a following HUD a while back; you click on it, select a nearby avatar, and it starts you following them automatically, at a speed dependent on how far away they are from you. It also accounts for sim crossings (which break scan contact) by giving you a shove towards their last known position and over the boundary, then trying to find them again.
It does require one to pay a bit of attention because if they turn a sharp corner, one can get stuck bumping into walls. Also, it's easy to fall foul of slight barriers when walking (flying makes everything a lot simpler). A smarter device would log the points at which they made turns greater than X degrees and then move you towards those. It works fairly well though - I was using it only the other day. Perhaps a script to post on the Journal.
November 8th, 2006 at 2:43 PM PST
I did in the end post the script: A personal following device
November 9th, 2006 at 8:12 PM PST
Josh, aye, I do have a Wacom tablet — there are some further possibilities to be explored there. Since pressure can act like a 3rd dimension (reminds me of aftertouch on my synth keys), I wish I could fling blocks into the distance in SL with my stylus!
Erbo, I like DDR… wonder if those pads could be remapped, 'cuz I've seen some of them for pretty cheap!
Jerry aka SNOOP, Cube Linden mentioned Moriash's to me too, that's hot. And you're right, I guess it wouldn't do me much good if I was walking-and-talking but others weren't. It's the sort of thing I'd like to be severely widely-accessible, for sure. But you know how specialty devices are when it comes to cost and availability. *shakes avatar fist*
Ordinal, OMGZ… I gotta trail over to your blog now and see what that's all 'bout! Thanxies!
July 29th, 2007 at 1:42 PM PDT
As a World of Warcraft refugee, I constantly still find myself hitting the side mouse button, which turns on autorun. Aside from being able to talk as long as I'm traveling in a straight line (and, of course, veer off randomly as I'm typing when not steering), I found it generally made walking/running more pleasant, since I didn't have to be leaning on the walk key constantly (ow! Finger cramp!), I could just steer. It is quite possibly the thing I miss most.
I've got to look into LSL movement and see if I could jury rig something along the same lines.
August 5th, 2007 at 7:42 AM PDT
@Allegory: I haven't played WoW yet, but is "side button" being "autorun" something settable by default or did you customize it in your mouse?
I know Rickard Roentgen and Timeless Prototype (for a previous Relay For Life) have done scripted attachments that keep walking you in a straight line, I think after expressing thanks for that, my concern became that I wanted to type AND steer at the same time. You can see how this gets more elaborate.
Presently, I'm hoping to get a set of pedals after wishing for so long, and seeing how they actually work in practice.
Let me know how your LSL experiments go!
September 20th, 2007 at 3:19 PM PDT
While steering does become an issue with autorun, I found it to be less of one than I expected. I suppose I generally tend to point myself in a straight line when possible anyway, because a) I don't mind walking across the grass, and b) you move so (comparatively) slowly especially when crossing long distances that you want to be more efficient. That last one is less of an issue in SL, since generally it's not a "run to the destination" issue with teleportation (and lack of as much built-in repetition to keep you playing longer without having to provide the exciting new content for all of it). But usually I'm not typing a novel in one text box (I start becoming incomprehensible as soon as I can't see everything I've already written as it is, because I have a hard time forcing myself to slow down to be able to type it all before I've moved on to something else), so I generally haven't gone too horribly awry in the time it takes to send a message, and I can correct my path. /follow is also fabulous when it comes to typing and walking at the same time, making you auto follow whoever is in front of you. It has some minor pathing issues and with relative speeds differing can sometimes break eventually, but most of the time it's a very easy way to make sure you don't lose your friend, as well. (Which I do all of the time in SL! I think I need a flaregun.)
Theoretically autorun's set with the side button default, but it has a lot of iffy mouse issues (it depends upon the mouse as to whether it will actually be set up out of the box). However, being more of a "game" WoW has easy to set keybindings for all sorts of things (so it is easy to set on a new mouse, as well as setting for a combination of keys if you don't have a mouse with a side button), which I would generally like to see in SL- as well as a far friendlier (and more familiar) interface than editing the text file.
It would make combat substantially easier, if people were able to set things up to mimic systems with which they are more familiar, and I'd love to have the ability to program items to be able to use keyboard buttons to do some actions (although I can also see reasons to not allow that, as it opens up potential for abuse). Even something as simple and key in shooters as strafing is something that SL just plain doesn't do (or if it does, I've missed it). Honestly, I'm less interested in combat systems really, but they do highlight easy-to-see shortcomings in what people expect to be able to have, since combat games are so popular and have such an established ruleset.
I'm looking forward to the switch from LSL (as well as dreading it, will everything already made be broken?), in the hopes that it will generally provide a lot more flexibility. I often find it a very frustrating programming language, because I'm having to do something in 15 steps that ought to be doable in one, or just plain find myself unable to do something (that probably won't change much though, as most of the unable-to-do's are things that are set up intentionally- however, having a programming language that reacts more like I'm expecting will make things substantially smoother). However, there are still a lot of things I'd rather see built into the system, because if I'm having to hack my way through making it happen, I become an unnecessary contributor to lag- as well as them being more prone to random breakage if I'm having to force the round peg into the square hole.
September 20th, 2007 at 6:13 PM PDT
@Allegory: Thanks for the detailed comment, it sounds like you've done a lot of deep thinking. Someday I hope we have custom keyboard mappings for Second Life; I know some of these standard features that are popular in many games are hoped for in SL, to provide better control and intuitive movement. I'm no fan of convoluted processes either — whenever possible, I like a direct route.
June 15th, 2008 at 7:24 PM PDT
Dragging an old topic back up: please implement autorun. My left hand will thank you for it.
Not all sims allow fly, users of the Restrained Life client can be barred from Teleport, sit-teleport etc (trust me, it adds to the experience for us strange types).
Having to hold a key down to move in a straight line is beyond masochism, it's downright injurous (carpal tunnel).
As for talking while autorunning, I primarily use ijkl for movement (I'm a lefty). If I'm in the middle of typing something then I can just hit escape, correct course, hit return and continue where I left off. If I can avoid getting killed by marauding mobs in WoW doing that I'm pretty sure I can cope in the much more friendly environment of Second Life.
As has been mentioned by Allegory, this is default behior in WoW (I'm another refugee) and many other 3D games.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:54 PM PDT
I am reminded of the bandana like structures used for people who are diseased or armless, ect. you know, they are able to play games like, "Invaders" and racing games purely by the power of Thought. A friend of mine, has a doctor who works in some field which involves creating those. I tried using it. with some practice, it can become easy. Could similar devices be made to work in Second life? not just for moving while you type, but for visa versa! is it possible? no mouse, no keyboard? just a screen? I will investigate further!