What's the simplest way to choose a mob in the world from a list?

ID:2190916
 
Dec 24 2016, 8:03 am
(See the best response by Kaiochao.)
Code:
                for(var/mob/player/M in players)
                    var/mob/player/p//null//pick(p1,p2,p3,p4)//pick(p1 in players, p2 in players, p3 in players, p4 in players)
                    var/ppick=rand(1,4)
                    if(ppick==1) p=p1
                    if(ppick==2) p=p2
                    if(ppick==3) p=p3
                    if(ppick==4) p=p4
                    sleep(1)
                    if(M==p)
                    //  spawn()
                        sleep(130)
                        //sleep(130)
                        if(p.client)    p.client.screen+=i2
                        sleep(20)//leep(15)
                        if(p.client)
                            p.client.screen-=i2
                        if(!w1)
                            w1=p
                            character("werewolf", p)


Problem description:
Alright. I've played with this code for hours upon hours. It worked, then I adjusted it, then everyone became the wolf on startup, then I thought I had fixed it again but upon revision it was bugged and just always making player 4 the werewolf.

I'm not doing this correctly. I've tried many different ways, all of which are not proving to be successful. Can someone give me a simple way of handling this? I felt like a simple pick() from the list of active players would be suffice but have tried so much more then that since I started dabbling with this.
Dec 24 2016, 8:09 am
This piece of code has been changed so much that p & M are probably not being used as they originally were intended to be used.
Dec 24 2016, 8:13 am
Hard to tell what you're actually trying to do here.
Dec 24 2016, 8:31 am
Not surprised! It's terrible code. Ok.

All players are put in a list, players. There also are world vars for each character slot(p1-p4).

This code is called a minute after a player logs in and if there are 4 players are on the map. The hunger cycle and darkness cycle are also called at this time.

What this code is suppose to do is pick 1/4 of the players and change them into the Werewolf. It also gives a notification to the werewolf seconds before he/she turns.
Dec 24 2016, 8:57 am
Best response
The for() is unnecessary; you're not trying to repeat any code "for each" player.
var mob/player/player = pick(players)
player << "you're turning into a werewolf"
sleep seconds*10
change_into_werewolf(player)
Dec 24 2016, 11:21 am
I really don't think it's wise that p1 through p4 be separate vars, rather than a list. That's a big part of the problem IMO.
Dec 24 2016, 11:37 am
Thanks for the help guys!