The Typing Thing

Among the first impressions I gathered from reading websites before leaping into SL was that the typing animation is the sure sign of a newbie. Of course, I turned it off as soon as I could, thinking that was the way to go. Now, I'm not so sure.

I've had "conversations" with people in-world, and I have found that much easier to handle with people who had the typing animation turned on. I could tell when they were about to say something, and thus I ought to wait before putting in my own two-pennyworth.

Two of the best conversations were with people who were by no means newbies; on the contrary, they were very experienced users who were able to help me a great deal. Yet, both of them had the typing animation going. There was nothing "uncool" about either.

So, what do others think? Is the animation an aid to conversation; do you find it helps if someone indicates they are typing? Or is it to be consigned to oblivion because people in RL don't talk that way?

For me, the typing anim is excellent. There isn't much that I dislike more than saying bye to someone and not knowing if they are typing something back - so I wait a while - just in case. I feel they are waiting for me to go, but I can't just go quickly, in case they are typing something to me, which they often are.

Unfortunately, some of the 'stands' in my AO allow the default anim and some don't, so those i am talking with often have the same problem.

I'm not a noob, btw

Yes, the typing animation is ugly and yes, it does seem to help me in conversations to know that someone is about to speak. I've compromised by inserting a line into my ZHAO script that kills the animation but doesn't stop the typing sound effect (mostly).

Yes, that's a tricky one, isn't it? Been there.

That's a very clever compromise. I like that.

I notice that with IM, there is a written indication that a person is typing. Is it possible to make the chat bar do that? If not, could it be done with a gesture? So one could type, say, /t and "return" , outputting a "such-and-such is typing" message, before going on to type what one wants to say?

I've been here since late 2005, and the only time I ever disable the typing animation is when it interferes with a pose ball I am on... It looks unbearably silly to be reclining languidly on a cuddle rug with a friend, and suddenly sit halfway up and start typing...

In normal text chat conversation, I find the typing animation invaluable as a cue to who is speaking, or who is about to speak. It actually bothers me a great deal when someone has it always off, and suddenly erupts with a paragraph of text that was not anticipated. It's even worse when the person speaking without the typing animation is someone not well known to you, and you have to cam around to see who has that name over their head.

It might be nice if there was a visible indicator in someone's name tag or hovering above their heads, if they had the typing animation off. For example, when someone is speaking in Voice Chat, it's often the case that you can't see that their mouth is moving or that they are doing other Voice-related gestures. But there is an indicator over their head that shows they are actively speaking. I can see some cases where one would want to supress the typing, such as when doing a machinema recording, but by having some indicatior in the UI one could still get a cue as to who is text chatting with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flkgNn50k14

I've been in SL for 3 years and run a successful business creating sculpties. I find the typing anim useful, but mainly I don't worry about what anyone else thinks is "cool".

I use the ZHAO animations to override it with a hand-waving gesture.

I'm not keen on typing sound method because I have sound off almost all of the time. I only put it on for voice. But a "/me is typing..." in chat would probably work very nicely and ought to be easy enough to do. Better still would be something built-into the viewer (standard - not emerald - it needs to be the standard), as Ceera suggested.

Some kind of typing animation is a big aid to following a conversation. A lot of people use something like Whinge's "blablabla" typing overrider for the typing animation instead, but some people turn it off or simply use an AO with high priority animations that prevent it from triggering. It's people like that that made me add a "typing" flag to Otter Monitor and Argent's Dock... there's a "*" next to the name of people who are currently typing, and I find it very useful. I also have a really nice steampunk keyboard you can wear... it materializes under your hands when you're typing... I think it's in my freebie box, if not IM me in-world and I'll give you one.

So I would say, yes, the typing animation (or equivalent) is useful.

I've tried both ways and its easier conversing with typing enabled. A lot of people just walk away when they don't see you type. I also notice non-newbs have trouble conversing too. There are type restorers that override your AO if your AO anims are too high priority.

Yup - turned it off because I thought it was too 'noob' then turned it back on when I realized how useful I found it in other people during conversations.

'How do I politely end a conversation and gracefully TP away?' is a another question.

I try and wrap up a conversation with something like 'Well, got to get going, things to do' so that the other person is prepared for when my avatar starts looking around wildly as I pull up an LM from Misti and then poof.

I don't mind the typing animation, but the nod that happens after you are finished typing has got to go!

Now that is a good idea: I shall steal it forthwith.

Maybe I should also think about using a titler to display a "Typing..." message when appropriate, too.

An Argent Stonecutter freebie box should be worth investigating. Could you tell me where I can find one?

I have mine off, and it stays off. BTW, MystiTool's radar puts a "T" next to the name of a typing avatar.

In my stores, in my picks.

This is something I've come across too, and found difficult.

Yes; you're right. I'm thinking it's far better to be clear about what I'm doing in SL than is following a not-being-a-newbie guide.

But do people recognise the gesture in the way you intend it?

Interesting question. Maybe people think he's waving goodbye

Hmm, hadn't thought of that. I have sound on most of the time; largely because I been spending a lot of time at Dinosaurs Park, where sound effects are used very cleverly; partly because I love that sound which plays during flight.



Could you explain this "/me" thing, please? I've seen it here on the forum many times, but don't quite get what it is.

Not hear of this before. Shall look for that next time I'm in-world.



I'd like to try that. I'll have a look shortly.

typing /me is typing causes..

Phil Deakins is typing

to be shown in everyone's chat box. The /me bit is replaced by your name.

I am very slow at typing, especially when panicking. And, with the typing animation off, people have walked away before I could get off a reply, probably because they thought I was ignoring them.

This is what I've been deliberating since conversing with someone yesterday. Apart from her being someone who was extremely nice to talk with anyway, it really helped a lot that I could see when she was going to say something.

I think I'm going to ignore the don't-be-a-newbie advice and switch the animation back on.



Oh boy, that's the one that really bothers me. There ought to be a book on that one. Lucky for me, most of my conversations have been late at night, so I could say, honestly, that it was midnight and I really needed to get to bed.