Explaining driving in SL to a gamer made me feel old

[Ayashe Ninetails]

17 minutes ago, animats said:

SL sort of supports a joystick, but it just maps to the arrow keys. No proportional control. I'd like to see game controller support.

Nightmares. Immediate nightmares. My thought? Navigating my inventory with an Xbox controller. 🤣

 

54 minutes ago, Charalyne Blackwood said:

My actual setup has been SZXC so I can have keys above and closer to the space bar, left shift, and left ctrl, but in SL I have it still set to the arrow keys. Sometimes I move by clicking on the movement HUD

SZXC is a new one to me, but I've seen people use sooo many creative keybinds in various games, depending on what feels most comfortable and what provides the most speed. I believe there's an IKJL config for left-handed gamers, too. 

The only real issue comes from games/platforms that do not allow for remapping. That's when things get nutty and the Steam forums and Reddit blow up and catch on fire. 😂 I'm thankful SL is flexible on that front these days.

[Love Zhaoying]

20 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Nightmares. Immediate nightmares. My thought? Navigating my inventory with an Xbox controller. 🤣

With a deep enough inventory structure, it would become "fun"!

[Scylla Rhiadra]

I'm not understanding why this is a debate. Is there some reason that both arrow keys AND WASD can't be default controllers?

I use arrow keys because 1) I'm left handed, and use my mouse with my left, and 2) arrow keys have arrows on them.

[Rolig Loon]

25 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I'm not understanding why this is a debate. Is there some reason that both arrow keys AND WASD can't be default controllers?

Well, you can't have two things be the default at the same time, but you can certainly make it easy for  user to choose which one she wants to be her default.  And that's what each of the SL viewers does.  If you -- not "you" you, but "you" in general -- prefer to use WASD, do it.  Don't carry on about why my different choice is wrong-headed.

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Rolig Loon said:

Well, you can't have two things be the default at the same time, but you can certainly make it easy for  user to choose which one she wants to be her default.  And that's what each of the SL viewers does.  If you -- not "you" you, but "you" in general -- prefer to use WASD, do it.  Don't carry on about why my different choice is wrong-headed.

If not default, can you have both arrow keys and WASD "active" at the same time?

[Scylla Rhiadra]

2 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

Well, you can't have two things be the default at the same time, but you can certainly make it easy for  user to choose which one she wants to be her default.  And that's what each of the SL viewers does.  If you -- not "you" you, but "you" in general -- prefer to use WASD, do it.  Don't carry on about why my different choice is wrong-headed.

 

Just now, Love Zhaoying said:

If not default, can you have both arrow keys and WASD "active" at the same time?

Possibly this in issue with keybindings, but surely it is possible, as Love says, to have both effectively doing the same thing? When I change my keybindings in my viewer, it doesn't prompt me to change the defaults, nor, so far as I've noticed, does it automatically do so?

[Cali Souther]

On 10/9/2022 at 4:05 AM, Ceka Cianci said:

I use WSAD because   my right is my mouse hand and my keyboard hand is my left..

I'm used to going right to left not left to right..plus the number keys are above my fingers and not off to the side..

Especially in games where you need to move and mouse at the same time.  Maybe they should put arrow keys on the left as well.  🤣

[Rolig Loon]

2 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Possibly this in issue with keybindings, but surely it is possible, as Love says, to have both effectively doing the same thing? When I change my keybindings in my viewer, it doesn't prompt me to change the defaults, nor, so far as I've noticed, does it automatically do so?

Well, maybe. The problem I can see is that there are other good uses for the WASD keys, like typing handy words like "wash" and "whoopsie-daisy". I can understand that many people don't use a keyboard for typing, but many of us do.  I find it unnerving to start typing and discover that I've been catapulted into the air because my letter keys have been temporarily repurposed. Sadly, there's no such thing as a perfect solution.

[Istelathis]

16 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

Well, maybe. The problem I can see is that there are other good uses for the WASD keys, like typing handy words like "wash" and "whoopsie-daisy". I can understand that many people don't use a keyboard for typing, but many of us do.  I find it unnerving to start typing and discover that I've been catapulted into the air because my letter keys have been temporarily repurposed. Sadly, there's no such thing as a perfect solution.

I just push enter, it automatically places the cursor in my chatbox for a lot of MMOs and SL.  Because I am moving my hand from the mouse back to home row it is a simple gesture of hitting the enter key on my way there 🙃  I remember when I first joined SL though, and not being used to having the default being set to arrow keys.  That lead to a lot of weirdness in my chat, I would usually just press enter because I can be dense at times, and deleting the letters took more time than just hitting enter.

Istelathis: wwwwwwwwwwwwwwaddddddddddssssssssssswwwwwwwwwww

 

😜

For the way I sit at the computer WASD is more comfortable, to get the arrow keys with my left hand requires that I cross my arm over a bit too far, which over time makes my shoulder hurt.  Plus when I do want to type, I have to move both hands over to my home row and I am far too lazy to be moving my hands like that! .😋

[Paul Hexem]

2 hours ago, Jaylinbridges said:

They need a scoreboard when using an adult bed too.

I know what my next product is going to be.

[Love Zhaoying]

9 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

2 hours ago, Jaylinbridges said:

They need a scoreboard when using an adult bed too.

I know what my next product is going to be.

I hope the scoreboard comes with crowd cheers, etc.!

ETA: Referee calls.."There's a flag on the play, time out! 5-Yard penalty!"

Edited October 10, 2022 by Love Zhaoying

[taisiyakarpenko]

Always on my laptop, so no mouse - arrows with right hand since the beginning for moving. Arrows combined with left hand Alt/Ctrl/Shift combos for camera controls like pan/zoom/tilt, and with left hand E/C and D for jumping and flying. And using the arrows makes my left always ready for an Alt-Shift-S!

Have never ever used a mouse with SL actually, only the trackpad! Come to think about it, I have never logged into SL from a desktop computer either!

[Rowan Amore]

3 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

WASD is the expected defacto standard.

Anyone new to SL is going to instinctively reach for WASD and immediately be put off when it doesn't work.

 

Instinctively, the arrow keys were what I assumed you used to move around.  Anyone familiar with games of course will assume otherwise but they would also.probably figure out how to.change it fairly soon.  Non-gamers such as myself?  Of course arrows make more sense.  I had no clue whatsoever about WASD when I started.

[Finite]

I use ASWD in SL since its closer to other keys than the arrow keys. However most gamers use their mouse for movement since it frees up other keys for keybinds. In fact most "gamers" mock "keyboard turners" since it's obvious in game as it is much slower than mouse turning.

[HeathcliffMontague]

On 10/9/2022 at 10:54 AM, Love Zhaoying said:

Driving in Second Life is basically Pole Position from first person. Without the gear shift.

If that's your experience you might want to delve into it a little bit more. It's a very nice subscene with some  very nice folks. It goes pretty deeeeep, man

Escapes the sharps claws and hopes for a bear... I mean lion hug.

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, HeathcliffMontague said:

If that's your experience you might want to delve into it a little bit more. It's a very nice subscene with some  very nice folks. It goes pretty deeeeep, man

Escapes the sharps claws and hopes for a bear... I mean lion hug.

I was just riffing off of someone else's comment, to be honest.

[Ceka Cianci]

2 hours ago, Cali Souther said:

Especially in games where you need to move and mouse at the same time.  Maybe they should put arrow keys on the left as well.  🤣

Me and my husband played division for a little while, which was really kind of a neat game..You could go anywhere in Manhattan which i really thought was amazing.. I guess they go ahead of time and actually map the areas that will be in their game and if there is a pizza place somewhere , they put a pizza place there and whatever is next door and so on..

They did Washington DC also in their next one which was really neat also.. they even had the secret room under the Lincoln memorial and it looks the same..

Aaaaaanyways, All the default keys are for the left hand, plus just about any keyboard we've gotten that I can remember.. the macro keys are on the left side as well..

I had three fingers using the WASD keys and my pinky working the shift control and alt tab  my thumb working the space bar, then a bunch of buttons on my mouse..

It was easy for me to get used to those in that game, because they are pretty much like my SL keys have always been..

That was such a fun game.. hehehe

Edited October 10, 2022 by Ceka Cianci

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Ceka Cianci said:

Aaaaaanyways, All the default keys are for the left hand, plus just about any keyboard we've gotten that I can remember.. the macro keys are on the left side as well..

Ahah! This could be why I never tried "WASD".

[Ceka Cianci]

2 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Ahah! This could be why I never tried "WASD".

I think that's what they are anyways.. They might be hot keys too though..whatever those ones that are off to the side are..mine  on my corsair board are  keys G1 thru G6. I never really use those.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

Well, maybe. The problem I can see is that there are other good uses for the WASD keys, like typing handy words like "wash" and "whoopsie-daisy". I can understand that many people don't use a keyboard for typing, but many of us do.  I find it unnerving to start typing and discover that I've been catapulted into the air because my letter keys have been temporarily repurposed. Sadly, there's no such thing as a perfect solution.

So, according to both the SL Wiki and Knowledge Base, you can (by default?) use both arrow keys and WASD to move -- in the latter case, if the focus is on the screen rather than the chat bar. (You can also use the number pad.)

And I briefly shot in-world on the official viewer, and that is, in fact, the case!

So . . . why are we having this discussion again?

[HeathcliffMontague]

Heh. Thanks for all he replies. I can drive in the UK if I have to. It works perfectly well. That's like what is WASD is to me. Have to sorta switch from the normal to the the left side. I can do it just fine. Struggle with their roundabouts, though. Prefer roundabouts in the rest of the continent  where it's intuitive i.e. "right" side of the road (ducks to avoid the bricks)  

[Ayashe Ninetails]

20 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

So, according to both the SL Wiki and Knowledge Base, you can (by default?) use both arrow keys and WASD to move -- in the latter case, if the focus is on the screen rather than the chat bar. (You can also use the number pad.)

And I briefly shot in-world on the official viewer, and that is, in fact, the case!

So . . . why are we having this discussion again?

The driver in the OP couldn't move the car with WASD. 

Which now makes me wonder! Is that something that's scripted into vehicles themselves, orrrrr is that solely controlled by the key bindings in Preferences? The very, very, VERY FEW times I jumped into a car, plane, or motorcycle, I believe I was able to vroom vroom with WASD. Never really thought about it.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

8 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

The driver in the OP couldn't move the car with WASD. 

Which now makes me wonder! Is that something that's scripted into vehicles themselves, orrrrr is that solely controlled by the key bindings in Preferences? The very, very, VERY FEW times I jumped into a car, plane, or motorcycle, I believe I was able to vroom vroom with WASD. Never really thought about it.

This is an excellent point. I'll check it out with some of my vehicles. Big if true!

Maybe this calls for political action! Boycotts! Protests! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!

[Quistess Alpha]

13 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Which now makes me wonder! Is that something that's scripted into vehicles themselves, orrrrr is that solely controlled by the key bindings in Preferences? The very, very, VERY FEW times I jumped into a car, plane, or motorcycle, I believe I was able to vroom vroom with WASD. Never really thought about it.

Keybindings in preferences; scripts can only "know about" which movement command you're trying to do (forward back up down left right (turn and strafe), click) not which button you're actually pressing.

[Quistess Alpha]

3 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

If not default, can you have both arrow keys and WASD "active" at the same time?

I believe that [Both active] ~Is the default, it just gets 'overriden' by the fact that "Pressing letter keys: Starts local chat" is ~Also default.

At least that's how I remember it, It's been a while since I changed viewer settings form default.

Edited October 10, 2022 by Quistess Alpha