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Giving something to something (past tense given it to)

This action is indexed by Inform under 'Actions concerning other people', but it could just as easily have gone under 'Actions concerning the actor's possessions' because - like dropping, putting it on or inserting it into - this is an action which gets rid of something being carried.

The Standard Rules implement this action fully - if it reaches the carry out and report rulebooks, then the item is indeed transferred to the recipient, and this is properly reported. But giving something to somebody is not like putting something on a shelf: the recipient has to agree. The final check rule, the 'block giving rule', assumes that the recipient does not consent - so the gift fails to happen. The way to make the giving action use its abilities fully is to replace the block giving rule with a rule which makes a more sophisticated decision about who will accept what from whom, and only blocks some attempts, letting others run on into the carry out and report rules.


Typed commands leading to this action

    "give [something preferably held] to [someone]"
    "give [someone] [something preferably held]" reversed

Rules controlling this action

    check        an actor giving something to  can't give what you haven't got rule
    check        an actor giving something to  can't give to yourself rule
    check        an actor giving something to  can't give to a non-person rule
    check        an actor giving something to  block giving rule
    carry out    an actor giving something to  standard giving rule
    report        an actor giving something to  standard report giving rule