tbamud/doc/socials.txt

If you have any additions, corrections, ideas, or bug reports please stop by the
Builder Academy at telnet://tbamud.com:9091 or email rumble@tbamud.com -- Rumble

A social is the easiest command to add to the game thanks to the social editor; 
aedit. Socials serve as a means of expression among players, and have no effect
on gameplay itself (unless you make a trigger to fire off a social). Socials 
can be used locally or globally with gemote.

HELP AEDIT

Syntax: aedit <social>

   Aedit is an online action (social) editor that allows you to create socials
on the fly. Anyone can add new socials just ask a level 33 or above to set your
OLC to 999 and explain how it works. Use astat to see examples.

Here is the much coveted list of $ codes applicable to socials: There are six 
different dollar-sign codes which can be inserted into the messages. Each is a 
dollar-sign followed by a letter. If the letter is lowercase, the player using 
the social is referenced. If the letter is capital, the target character is 
referenced. The letter N inserts the character's name, an E inserts a subject 
pronoun (he, she, it), an S inserts a possessive pronoun (his, hers, its), and 
an M inserts an object pronoun (him, her, it). 

$e he/she/it person doing social
$E he/she target of social
$m him/her person doing social
$M him/her target of social
$n char name person doing social (your name)
$N char name target of social (other persons name)
$s his/her/its person doing social
$S his/her target of social
$t body part of victim
$p object

See also: ASTAT, SOCIALS, AUTOSAVE

This is all you really need to know to make socials. Now if you want to edit 
the socials file directly or understand the format in depth keep reading. 

The file is formatted as follows: 

<command> <command sort name> <hide flag> <min pos of vict> <min pos of char> 
<min level>
<messg to character if no argument>
<messg to others if no argument>
<messg to char if victim not found>
<messg to char if vict is char> 
<messg to others if vict is char> 
<messg to char if victim found>
<messg to others if victim found>
<messg to victim> 
<messg to char if body part found>
<messg to others if body part found>
<messg to victim if body part found>
<messg to char if object found>
<messg to others if object found>

All socials are 14 lines followed by a blank line. After the blank line is 
either the beginning of the next social or a dollar sign which marks the end of 
the file. The first line of any social has six elements: the command name, the 
abbreviated version of the command, the "hide-flag", the minimum position of the 
victim, the min pos of the char (below), and the minimum level. that any victim 
must be. The hide-flag is a Boolean value. If it is 0, the social is visible to 
anyone in the room. If it is 1, the social is only visible to the character who 
uses it and the character who is the "victim". Most such socials are only usable 
on characters who are awake, meaning that they are either resting or more alert, 
and so the minimum position value we will use is 5.

Positions:
Dead 0 = POS_DEAD
Mortally Wounded 1 = POS_MORTALLYW
Incapacitated 2 = POS_INCAP
Stunned 3 = POS_STUNNED
Sleeping 4 = POS_SLEEPING
Resting 5 = POS_RESTING
Sitting 6 = POS_SITTING
Fighting 7 = POS_FIGHTING
Standing 8 = POS_STANDING 

The next 13 message lines contain the statements that will be shown to various
characters in certain conditions. The first line is the message sent to the 
player who uses a social when the social has no argument. The second line 
contains the message sent to others in the room when the social has no argument. 
The third message is sent to the player using the social when the player names 
a target, and that target is present in the room. The fourth message is sent to 
others in the room under the same circumstances. The fifth message is sent to 
the target character. The sixth message is sent to the player who uses the 
social when the player supplies a target, and that target is not available. The 
seventh message is sent to the player who uses the social when they player 
supplies his or herself as a target. The eighth message is sent to others in 
the room under the same circumstances. The remaining follow the same theme but 
for body parts and objects. A pound sign in any message line means that there 
is no message.

Keep in mind that "messages", "socials", and the world files are not part of 
the source code, but rather are strictly data files. They are read by the game 
at runtime and throughout the course of the game. Changes made to them do not 
require recompiling the executable, they only need for the game to stop running 
and be restarted. You can change information in these files at any time. In the 
tbaMUD codebase the socials appear in alphabetical order in the file, but they 
can appear in any order and can be rearranged if necessary. The socials file is 
located in the lib/misc/ directory. Socials are all handled through the 
generalized command do_action where the $ codes listed above are parsed.

Each social must contain the first two messages (if the social ignores 
arguments), or all thirteen messages (if the social takes an argument). Each 
message must be contained in one line. The command-name indicates which social 
is being specified. The command sort name is the shortest part of the command a 
player must type for it to match. The hide-flag can be either 0 or 1; if 1, the 
social is hidden from OTHERS if they cannot see the character performing the 
social. The action is not hidden from the VICTIM, even if s/he cannot see the 
character performing the social, although in such cases the character’s name 
will, of course, be replaced with “someone”. The min positions should be set to 
dictate the minimum position a player must be in to target the victim and 
perform the social. Min level allows you to further customize who can use what 
socials.Where it makes sense to do so, text fields may be left empty. If 
editing manually you should by put a ‘#’ in the first column on the line. Aedit 
does this automatically.

Examples:

A social only requires 2 message lines. This is the simplest form of a social.

~ack ack 0 0 0 0
ACK!
$n goes ACK!!
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#

~lick lick 0 5 0 0
You lick your lips and smile.
$n licks $s lips and smiles.
You lick $M.
$n licks $N.
$n licks you.
Lick away, nobody's here with that name.
You lick yourself.
$n licks $mself -- YUCK.
You lick $S $t.
$n licks $N's $t.
$n licks your $t.
You lick $p.
$n licks $p.

~comfort com 0 5 5 0
Do you feel uncomfortable?
#
You comfort $M.
$n comforts $N.
$n comforts you.
Comfort who?
You make a vain attempt to comfort yourself.
#
#
#
#
You comfort $p.
$n comforts $p.