DPMR for any actor

Authoring Inform 7
#1

So I defined an phrase in Speech Motivations that is sometimes used in Does the Player Mean Rules. Unfortunately, when it is not used in DPMR, it must describe actions with “an actor” to cover all actors, but when it is used in DPMR, that doesn’t work. Here’s a simplified example:

[code]Test is a room.

Bob is a man in Test.

There is a yellow ball in Test. There is a purple ball in Test. There is a green ball in Test.

To decide which object is the desired projectile:
if an actor throwing something at, decide on the yellow ball;
if asking someone to try throwing something at, decide on the purple ball;
if throwing something at, decide on the green ball;
decide on nothing.

Does the player mean doing something when the current action involves the desired projectile: it is very likely.

test me with “actions/t ball/throw ball at bob/bob, throw ball at me”[/code]

This resolves to the green ball for the player’s action, and to nothing for the request to Bob. Is there any action description that can be used both within DPMR and without, that will cover actions both by the player and by other characters? Is there any action description at all that can be used in DPMR to describe requests to other characters?

#2

Adding a DTPM rule for ‘asking people to try doing something’ goes some way, but the decide phrase seems to pick the yellow ball rather than the purple one.

Does the player mean asking someone to try doing something when the current action involves the desired projectile: it is very likely.
#3

No, I was totally deluded. That rule apparently never runs.

EDIT:
Wrong again! :smiley: It works. (When I tested it, I happened to make Bob pick up a ball first, which disambiguated to the yellow one, and then when asked to throw a ball, of course he threw the one he already carried! :blush: )

#4

Possibly not related to your question, but it’s curious that ScoreDabCombo sets act_requester to the player before running DTPM rules. Especially if that makes descriptions like ``an actor throwing something at’’ not match.

#5

I think Felix’s discovery is good enough for me. It looks like I just failed to go through all the permutations. For a single rule to cover both Bob and the player, it’s necessary to avoid specifying any sort of action at all:

Does the player mean when the current action involves the desired projectile: it is very likely.