1. A computer-implemented method for interacting with a virtual environment, the method comprising: displaying, via a touchscreen display device, a plurality of avatars within the virtual environment, the plurality of avatars including a first avatar and a second avatar; determining a series of different actions of the second avatar relative to the first avatar; serially displaying, on a touchscreen portion of the touchscreen display device, a series of different graphical user interface (GUI) elements, each GUI element corresponding to a respective action of the series of actions, each GUI element triggerable by a respective predefined input pattern corresponding to a real world physical action, wherein at least one of the GUI elements comprises a slider GUI element; detecting, for each of the displayed series of GUI elements, the respective predefined input pattern performed by the user and that triggers the respective GUI element; and causing, for each detected respective predefined input pattern, the first avatar to emulate the respective real world physical action to respond to the action of the second avatar.