Second Life is full of things that just aren't obvious. This is the start of a new series where we'll talk you through the details of interacting with Second Life. We'll be talking about a whole lot of the basics in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. If you have a friend who is new to Second Life and having troubles with learning the basics, send them our way, and with a bit of luck we'll have the information they're looking for.

The first, and most obviously counter-intuitive thing you'll face is just moving around the virtual world. The default view has a camera looking past your avatar from behind. That's called third person mode. We'll talk about moving that camera around another time. The first thing you'll probably notice is that, as you move your mouse around the screen, your avatar's head turns to follow it.
With the chat bar closed, you can use the A and D keys (or the left and right arrow keys) to turn your avatar left and right. If you want to move forwards or backwards, use the W and S keys (or the up and down arrow keys). This combination might feel a little strange, and imprecise.

Another way of moving your avatar around is to rely on W/S (or the up/down arrow keys) to move forward and back and use the mouse to steer your avatar. You can accomplish this by moving the mouse-pointer so that it is over your avatar, then click and hold down the left mouse button. Then, dragging the mouse around will turn your avatar, and aim the camera, allowing you to steer while moving, or look around while you are stopped.

That whacky chat-bar.

The chat bar and the instant-message window both have text boxes where typed keystrokes go. While they're open, trying to move around with the keys won't help you very much. There are a couple ways you can deal with this.

There are two options in your preferences that can help. Open up your preferences panel by pulling down the Edit menu, then select Preferences. Then choose the Chat section from the left-hand-side of the preferences window that appears.

In the middle of this little welter of options, is a section called Chat Options. In the current version it looks something like this:


It's the middle two options we're interested in. Close chat after hitting return does exactly that. You press return (also called enter), and the chat bar opens. You type a line of text, and press return/enter at the end. It closes. You're now free to use any of the eight keyboard keys (W,A,S,D or the four arrow keys) to move. Press return/enter again to open the chat bar to say something more.

Pretty much everyone I know has this option set. It's a little awkward at first, but you get used to it fairly quickly. The only hazard is enthusiastically starting to type before you've pressed return. You end up maybe doing a little jig and jumping in the air. It's okay, we all do that from time-to-time, even the most experienced. Sitting on something first prevents those little embarrassing moments.

The option just below it is Arrow keys always move avatar when chatting. Basically it is what it says. Even if your chat bar is open, you can turn and walk forwards or backwards with the arrow keys. If this isn't set, the left and right arrow keys allow you to move the cursor back and forth through the chat text you've entered, to edit it and correct mistakes. If it is set, then the arrow keys just move you around and the HOME key toggles flight mode. Try it both ways, and see which way you feel more comfortable with.


Moving in confined spaces

Sometimes you're in a crowd or a confined space where you can't get a clear view, and you still want to be able to navigate without bumping into too many people (remember to apologize if you accidentally shove someone. It happens to all of us, and saying sorry isn't ever really out of place).

Pull down the View menu and select Mouselook. Alternatively, just press M while the chat bar is closed. The camera zooms in a bit, and in a second you'll be seeing right out of your avatar's eyes. This is what's called a 'first-person' mode. You see what it sees, and there's a little marker in the middle of your screen. Your mouse-pointer has vanished. If you move the mouse in any direction, your avatar will turn and look that way. Up, down, left, right. Your regular movement keys work just as they did, except that instead of turning, those keys will make you sidestep instead. Just like being there.

Your interaction with the world in mouselook mode is a little more limited. You can't right-click on anything. You can still left-click on any object that the marker in the middle of the screen is over. We call left-clicking on things 'touching' them, and we'll talk about that more another time.

To get out of mouselook mode, either press M again (with the chat bar closed, of course) or press the ESC key two or three times.

Additionally, if you hold the space-bar down on your keyboard, you will move much more slowly, allowing yourself to move more carefully should you feel the need.


Moving faster

Yes, you can run. Actually, almost nobody does because it's really not that much faster than walking and it looks kind of silly. However, if you press CONTROL R on your keyboard (or pull down the World Menu and select Always Run) you will always run rather than walk. Doing it again will put you back in walk mode.

You'll hardly ever see anyone running except the very new. If you don't like to stand out in a crowd, you probably don't want to run everywhere.


Flight and Flying

Now, flying is fast, but it is also fun. Graceful landings take a little practice, though, but there's a few tricks to make them easier. Let's start with the basics.

With the chat bar closed, you can toggle flight with either the F key or the HOME key. That either starts you flying if you weren't, or stops you flying if you are. Cancel flight mode just above the ground and you'll drop onto your feet like Peter Pan. From further up, and you'll plummet and hit the ground like Wile E. Coyote on a bad day. Generally it doesn't hurt and your avatar will get up and dust itself off, but it may not have been the cool landing you intended.

In the air, movement is much the same as on the ground, except that you are moving in three dimensions. The E/C keys (or PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN keys) will increase and decrease your altitude. You can also fly in mouselook mode. In fact, that's the easiest way. Aim yourself at wherever you want to go, and just press forward. Up, down, wherever.

Remember those graceful landings I mentioned? Decrease your altitude so that you are just above the ground before you cancel flight mode, and your avatar will drop gently to its feet. Alternatively, aim at the ground in mouselook mode, fly up close, and then cancel flight mode. Either way gets the job done.

There you have it, the basics of moving around your immediate environment. There's plenty more to know. In fact, you could fill a book with it. In fact, someone did. Stay tuned for more. We'll be talking about lots more things later on!