I am planning on deleting/re-writing all of the socials on my game and would like a list of suggestions for socials that don't involve popular culture (such as the "xena" social) or mystical beings (like vbite). basically just socials that you would see in a world that is based on earth several hundred years after the destruction of civilization.

I'd love it if the submissions came in this format:

Social: smile

CNoArg: You smile happily.
ONoArg: $n smiles happily.
CFound: You smile at $M.
OFound: $n beams a smile at $N.
VFound: $n smiles at you.
CAuto : You smile at yourself.
OAuto : $n smiles at $mself.

but I'll take submissions in any form.

Slightly off-topic I'm afraid, but if you're going to rewrite all of the socials anyway, have you considered taking the opportunity to enhance the mechanics behind them? For example, allowing socials to work like the 'say' command (I think Skotos does something a bit like that?), or adding support for race/form-specific socials, or allowing equipment to be incorporated into the socials, etc.

Such changes are normally a pain to do, because they require you to go through all of the existing socials and update them. But if you're starting from a clean slate, now is the ideal time to enhance the underlying system.

One of the things I liked about the social system on my old game was, much to my surprise, not a universal thing.

Most muds have socials that accept targets, so you can "smile" and get one message, or you can "smile bob" and get a message involving bob. That's nice, but mine also lets you put arbitrary text in there, so you can "smile like a fool", and it prints the appropriate things to each listener, unless of course there's a player/npc named "like" present.

In Lola I added a quick hack and changed the social table as following:

{ 
                "smile",
                "happily",
                "You smile $t.",
                "$n smiles $t.",
                "You smile $t at $M.",
                "$n smiles $t at $N.",
                "$n smiles $t at you.",
                "You smile $t at yourself.",
                "$n smiles $t at $mself."   
        },

Happily is the default adjective, and if you supply your own adjective it'll be used instead.

One issue is the command interface. The most natural would be: smile <adjective> at <target> - which is unlike how Dikus typically handle input, so I settled for the somewhat awkward: smile <target> <adjective>.

I do this too, although I provide a list of valid adjectives for each social rather than letting players choose their own. This is more restrictive, but it avoids people using silly adjectives.


I support both, although not the keyword "at", only "to" or the "@" symbol (to make it consistent with the "say" and "emote" commands). Perhaps I should support "at" as well though.

There's also the issue of intrusive socials - patting someone on the head, shaking their hand, kissing them, giving them a hug, etc. I'd be tempted to handle these in a similar way to attacks, allowing people to dodge or avoid them, although there's no reason why they couldn't use the same interface as socials. This would probably require tying the socials in with the combat system however.

Another option to consider is which senses the social can be perceived with (which could even be expanded to providing multiple messages for each social). This gets around the problem of invisibility, for example, as you'd be able to hear the clap social but not see the grin social.

Here's some related articles:
The Skotos Proximity System.
The Skotos Evocation System.

I wasn't exactly thinking about changing the way the system itself works. just wanted to get rid of the bloat of socials.

The thing that brought me to this is that I saw a bunch of socials that just wouldn't fit in with the theme of my game. Things such as magical acts and references to popular (not so popular anymore) culture and other silly stuff.

Though there were a few suggestions I may look into before I actually start this project. For now though I am just trying to compile a list of socials that would be suitable and that's why I posted this thread.

"Happily" is an adverb, not an adjective.

so I guess I'm not gonna get any suggestions…

Well, here are a few obvious ones. Many of these could be either transitive or intransitive.

accuse shasarak (you formally accuse Shasarak)
agree shasarak (you agree with Shasarak completely)
anxious (you look anxious)
applaud (you applaud wholeheartedly)
applaud shasarak (you give Shasarak a deafening round of applause)
bearhug shasarak (you engulf Shasarak in an enormous bearhug)
blank (you look blank)
bleed (you bleed from your many wounds)
blush (you blush profusely)
blush shasarak (you look at Shasarak and blush)
bounce (you bounce around happily)
bow (you bow gracefully)
cheer (you cheer wildly)
clap (you clap your hands together)
count (you count on your fingers)
csigh (you sigh contentedly)
dance (you dance with joy)
dance shasarak (you sweep Shasarak across the dance floor)
excuse (you excuse yourself politely)
eyebrow (you raise one eyebrow)
fume (you fume silently)
fuck shasarak (you throw Shasarak on the ground and fuck him till he begs for mercy)
gesture (you gesticulate wildly)
glare shasarak (you glare angrily angrily at Shasarak)
glow (you glow with pride)
goodbye shasarak (you wave goodbye to Shasarak)
grab shasarak (you grab hold of Shasarak)
greet shasarak (you greet Shasarak cordially)
grin (you grin evilly)
hit shasarak (you hit Shasarak)
hesitate (you hesitate)
hold shasarak (you hold Shasarak close)
hug shasarak (you hug Shasarak tightly)
ignore shasarak (you pointedly ignore Shasarak)
innocent (you do your best to appear innocent)
jump (you jump up and down excitedly)
kiss (you blow kisses)
kiss shasarak (you kiss Shasarak passionately)
laugh (you fall down laughing)
mgrin (you grin mischievously)
mumble (you mumble something incomprehensible)
mutter (you mutter under your breath)
nervous (you look nervous)
oath (you swear a solemn oath)
point shasarak (you point your finger at Shasarak)
poke shasarak (you poke Shasarak in the ribs)
ponder (you ponder the situation carefully)
promise shasarak (you promise Shasarak faithfully)
ptremble (you temble with passion)
punch (you punch your fist in the air)
punch shasarak (you punch shasarak hard)
purple (you turn purple with rage)
scream shasarak (you scream loudly at Shasarak)
shake shasarak (you grab Shasarak by the shoulders and shake him violently)
shakehand shasarak (you shake hands with Shasarak)
shiver (you shiver nervously)
shrug (you shrug helplessly)
shrug shasarak (you look at Shasarak and shrug helplessly)
sigh (you sigh wearily)
sit (you sit down and rest your weary bones)
sit shasarak (you sit down besides Shasarak) - or possiby you sit in Shasarak's lap!
slap (you slap your thigh and laugh heartily)
slap shasarak (you slap Shasarak in the face)
smile (you smile happily)
snigger (you snigger softly)
stare (you stare into space)
stare shasarak (you stare dreamily at Shasarak, lost in his eyes)
stroke (you stroke your chin thoughtfully)
stroke shasarak (you gently stroke Shasarak's hair)
swear (you swear angrily)
tap (you tap your foot impatiently)
tap shasarak (you tap Shasarak on the shoulder)
tease shasarak (you tease Shasarak mercilessly)
think (you think hard)
tremble (you tremble with fear)
wave shasarak (you wave to Shasarak)
whistle (you whistle nonchalantly)
wonder (you open your eyes in wonder)
white (you turn white with terror)
yawn (you yawn sleepily)
yell shasarak (you yell angrily at Shasarak)

A few more:

ahem (you clear your throat noisily)
apologise shasarak (you apologise to Shasarak unreservedly)
bite (you absentmindedly bite your nails)
cackle (you cackle with glee)
chuckle (you chuckle politely)
comfort shasarak (you do your best to comfort Shasarak)
cry (you burst into tears)
cry shasarak (you cry on Shasarak's shoulder)
curse shasarak (you curse the day Shasarak was born)
drift (you drift around aimlessly)
drool (you drool with anticipation)
dshriek (you let out a shriek of delight)
dsniff (you sniff disdainfully)
ewait (you wait expectantly)
foam (you foam at the mouth)
focus shasarak (you focus all your attention on shasarak)
gape shasarak (you gape at Shasarak in open-mouthed astonishment)
giggle (you giggle inanely)
giggle shasarak (you giggle at Shasarak's silly antics)
hide (you run away and hide)
hsigh (you sigh happily)
iwait (you wait impatiently)
leap (you suddenly leap into the air)
lick (you lick your lips, savouring the moment)
listen (you listen carefully)
listen shasarak (you listen attentively to what Shasarak has to say)
mock shasarak (you cruelly mock Shasarak's shortcomings)
nibble shasarak (you nibble Shasarak's ear)
nod (you nod your head emphatically)
nostalgia (you smile wistfully, dreaming of the good old days)
nuzzle shasarak (you gently nuzzle Shasarak's neck)
panic (you run around in a state of panic)
peer shasarak (you peer suspiciously at Shasarak)
recoil shasarak (you recoil from Shasarak in terror)
rsigh (you heave a sigh of relief)
scratch (you scratch an itch)
scratch shasarak (you scratch Shasarak's face)
shudder (you shudder with revulsion)
shriek (you shriek in terror)
sleep (you slowly fall asleep)
smack (you smack your lips)
sniff (you sniff sadly)
sniff shasarak (you sniff Shasarak suspiciously)
snort (you snort derisively)
sob (you sob inconsolably)
wait (you wait patiently)
wander (you wander around in a daze)
wistful (you sigh wistfully)

Thank you Shasarak, those are useful suggestions. I'm aware that most of them already exist in stock but since I'm ripping them all out and starting fresh it's all good. I'm still open to further suggestions from others. I want to make a very large list of socials.

Some I liked from Nanvaent:


piano (From high above a crescendo of sound builds up as a piano plummets towards you
and flattens you)
piano flumpy (From high above a crescendo of sound builds up as a piano plummets towards $n and flattens $m. You think You dropped it.)
mouse (You juggle with some mice)
mouse flumpy (You throw a mouse at $n, it bounces off $m back. You think you threw it.)
wibble (You wibble.)
wibble flumpy (You wibble at $n.)
hugemouse (The mother of all mice sits on you.)
hugemouse flumpy (You send out a hugemouse contract on $n)
huggle (You huggle yourself.)
huggle flumpy (You huggle $n)
boggle (You boggle.)
boggle flumpy (You boggle at $n)
thwok (T H W O K K!)
thwok flumpy (You summarily thwok $n)
puke (You brighten up the place.)
puke flumpy (You puke on $n)
frog (You frog around.)
frog flumpy (You turn $n into a frog. (pause) $n goes "Ribbit!" | Ribbit! (for player you turned into a frog))
bop (You bop to the beat.)
bop flumpy (You bop $n on the head.)
womble (You womble around.)
womble flumpy (You womble around $n)
dance (You dance the disco duck. Feels silly doesn't it?)
dance flumpy (You sweep $n across the dance floor.)

edited to suit your requested format better

nice ones flumpy, though the frog one won't be used cause it includes "magical abilities" of a sort.

You don't /actually/ turn them into a frog ;)#


… and dropping a huge piano on someone pulled out of thin air isn't kinda like magic? Hmm.

a social is meant to be an action taken by the character. just because the social doesn't actually change game data doesn't mean I want people running around throwing illusory fireballs and crap when there is no magic in my game.

ah i c.. ok :)

A good question to ask about a socials system: if a player tips holy water on himself and then hugs a vampire, does the vampire take damage? Obviously your game may not contain vampires, but the point is whether the game models authentic physical consequences of social actions.

I would say that depends entirely on the game, but in most non-roleplay muds I would say no unless you actually had holy water or an ability of some sort.

I've often thought of having the socials actually do something other than display a message but I just don't want to do all the work that would require.