diff --git a/evennia/contrib/rpsystem.py b/evennia/contrib/rpsystem.py
index 5e917f6c80..6a6874536a 100644
--- a/evennia/contrib/rpsystem.py
+++ b/evennia/contrib/rpsystem.py
@@ -1155,7 +1155,7 @@ class ContribRPObject(DefaultObject):
             # only allow exact matching if searching the entire database
             # or unique #dbrefs
             exact = True
-        elif not candidates:
+        elif candidates is None:
             # no custom candidates given - get them automatically
             if location:
                 # location(s) were given
diff --git a/evennia/objects/manager.py b/evennia/objects/manager.py
index d3301e536d..656d699b3f 100644
--- a/evennia/objects/manager.py
+++ b/evennia/objects/manager.py
@@ -357,7 +357,10 @@ class ObjectDBManager(TypedObjectManager):
                     typeclasses[i] = u"%s" % typeclass
             typeclass = typeclasses
 
-        if candidates:
+        if candidates is not None:
+            if not candidates:
+                # candidates is the empty list. This should mean no matches can ever be acquired.
+                return []
             # Convenience check to make sure candidates are really dbobjs
             candidates = [cand for cand in make_iter(candidates) if cand]
             if typeclass:
diff --git a/evennia/objects/objects.py b/evennia/objects/objects.py
index eb96d6dfe3..97145a0ade 100644
--- a/evennia/objects/objects.py
+++ b/evennia/objects/objects.py
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ class DefaultObject(with_metaclass(TypeclassBase, ObjectDB)):
             # only allow exact matching if searching the entire database
             # or unique #dbrefs
             exact = True
-        elif not candidates:
+        elif candidates is None:
             # no custom candidates given - get them automatically
             if location:
                 # location(s) were given