diff --git a/evennia/objects/objects.py b/evennia/objects/objects.py
index 8c3bd1c337..31ab8f1992 100644
--- a/evennia/objects/objects.py
+++ b/evennia/objects/objects.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ from evennia.commands.cmdsethandler import CmdSetHandler
 from evennia.commands import cmdhandler
 from evennia.utils import logger
 from evennia.utils.utils import (variable_from_module, lazy_property,
-                                 make_iter, to_unicode)
+                                 make_iter, to_unicode, to_str)
 
 _MULTISESSION_MODE = settings.MULTISESSION_MODE
 
@@ -501,6 +501,7 @@ class DefaultObject(with_metaclass(TypeclassBase, ObjectDB)):
         except Exception:
             logger.log_trace()
 
+        text = text if text is None else to_str(text, force_string=True)
         kwargs["options"] = options
 
         # relay to session(s)
diff --git a/evennia/players/players.py b/evennia/players/players.py
index 55a161d54a..2b7dba8872 100644
--- a/evennia/players/players.py
+++ b/evennia/players/players.py
@@ -416,6 +416,7 @@ class DefaultPlayer(with_metaclass(TypeclassBase, PlayerDB)):
         except Exception:
             pass
 
+        text = text if text is None else to_str(text, force_string=True)
         kwargs["options"] = options
 
         # session relay
diff --git a/evennia/server/serversession.py b/evennia/server/serversession.py
index 0e728bb544..f883e7f195 100644
--- a/evennia/server/serversession.py
+++ b/evennia/server/serversession.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from django.utils import timezone
 from django.conf import settings
 from evennia.comms.models import ChannelDB
 from evennia.utils import logger
-from evennia.utils.utils import make_iter, lazy_property
+from evennia.utils.utils import make_iter, lazy_property, to_str
 from evennia.commands.cmdsethandler import CmdSetHandler
 from evennia.server.session import Session
 
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ class ServerSession(Session):
         # that auto-adds the session, we'd get a kwarg collision.
         kwargs.pop("session", None)
         if text is not None:
-            self.data_out(text=text, **kwargs)
+            self.data_out(text=to_str(text, force_string=True), **kwargs)
         else:
             self.data_out(**kwargs)