Socials

Socials are a staple of multi-user dungeons. They are templated emotes, defined by a world’s builders, that players and mobs use to interact socially. Examples include nod, shrug, wave, smile, laugh, sigh, shake, and slap. Custom socials add personality to a world.

Mobs can use the same socials that players can.

Command

The first field defines the social’s command. A smile social adds smile as a command in that world; when a player or mob enters it, the game renders the messages configured for that social.

Socials can work with or without a target. If John enters smile, he might see “You smile happily,” while everyone else in the room sees “John smiles happily.” If he enters smile soldier, he might see “You smile at a soldier,” the soldier sees “John smiles at you,” and everyone else sees “John smiles at a soldier.”

These perspectives require five message fields.

Social messages

A social can support standalone use, targeted use, or both:

• To work without a target, define both Standalone, Self and Standalone, Room.
• To work with a target, define Targeted, Self, Targeted, Target, and Targeted, Others.

If only the standalone messages are defined and someone supplies a target, the social behaves as though it were invoked without one. If only the targeted messages are defined and someone supplies no target, the game reports that a target is required.

Message (Standalone, Self)

The message shown to the character executing the social without a target, such as the player who enters smile.

Message (Standalone, Room)

The message shown to everyone else in the room when a character executes the social without a target.

Message (Targeted, Self)

The message shown to the character executing the social with a target, such as the player who enters smile john.

Message (Targeted, Target)

The message shown to the targeted character. For smile john, this is the message John sees.

Message (Targeted, Others)

The message shown to everyone in the room other than the actor and target.

Message substitutions

Social messages can refer to both the actor and the target. The game replaces these variables at runtime.

Actor references

Variable	Value
{{ actor }}	The actor’s name.
{{ Actor }}	The actor’s name with its first letter capitalized.
{{ actor_title }}	The actor’s title.
{{ actor_marks.<mark> }}	One of the actor’s marks; replace <mark> with the mark’s name.
{{ actor_subject_pronoun }}	he, she, or they.
{{ actor_object_pronoun }}	him, her, or them.
{{ actor_possessive_adjective }}	his, her, or their.
{{ actor_possessive_pronoun }}	his, hers, or theirs.
{{ actor_reflexive_pronoun }}	himself, herself, or themselves.

Target references

Variable	Value
{{ target }}	The target’s name.
{{ Target }}	The target’s name with its first letter capitalized.
{{ target_title }}	The target’s title.
{{ target_marks.<mark> }}	One of the target’s marks; replace <mark> with the mark’s name.
{{ target_subject_pronoun }}	he, she, or they.
{{ target_object_pronoun }}	him, her, or them.
{{ target_possessive_adjective }}	his, her, or their.
{{ target_possessive_pronoun }}	his, hers, or theirs.
{{ target_reflexive_pronoun }}	himself, herself, or themselves.

Complete example

This frown social describes someone frowning:

• Command: frown
• Message (Standalone, Self): What's wrong?
• Message (Standalone, Room): {{ Actor }} frowns.
• Message (Targeted, Self): You frown at {{ target }}... trying to tell {{ target_object_pronoun }} something?
• Message (Targeted, Target): {{ Actor }} frowns at you... is {{ actor_subject_pronoun }} trying to tell you something?
• Message (Targeted, Others): {{ Actor }} frowns at {{ target }}... is {{ actor_subject_pronoun }} trying to tell {{ target_object_pronoun }} something?

If John enters frown without a target:

• John sees: “What’s wrong?”
• Everyone else in the room sees: “John frowns.”

If John enters frown mary:

• John sees: “You frown at Mary… trying to tell her something?”
• Mary sees: “John frowns at you… is he trying to tell you something?”
• Everyone else in the room sees: “John frowns at Mary… is he trying to tell her something?”