title: Elif statements not printing
body: <p>I'm doing a basic rock paper scissors code for school, but my elif statements aren't running.</p>
  
  <pre><code>def player1(x):
      while x != 'rock' and x != 'paper' and x != 'scissors':
          print("This is not a valid object selection")
          x = input("Player 1? ")
  
  def player2(x):
      while x != 'rock' and x != 'paper' and x != 'scissors':
          print("This is not a valid object selection")
          x = input("Player 2? ")
  
  def winner():
      player1(input("Player 1? "))
      player2(input("Player 2? "))
      if player1 == 'rock' and player2 == 'rock':
          print('Tie')
      elif player1 == 'paper' and player2 == 'paper':
          print('Tie')
      elif player1 == 'rock' and player2 == 'paper':
          print('Player 2 wins')
      elif player1 == 'paper' and player2 == 'rock':
          print('Player 1 wins')
      elif player1 == 'rock' and player2 == 'scissors':
          print('Player 1 wins')
      elif player1 == 'scissors' and player2 == 'rock':
          print('Player 2 wins')
      elif player1 == 'paper' and player2 == 'scissors':
          print('Player 2 wins')
      elif player1 == 'scissors' and player2 == 'paper':
          print('Player 1 wins')
      elif player1 == 'scissors' and player2 == 'scissors':
          print('Tie')
  
  winner()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When I run this code, it asks for 'Player 1?' and won't accept anything other than rock, paper, or scissors. It then proceeds to do the same for player2. However, this is where the code ends, and it will not run my elif statements and print which player wins.</p>
  
  <p>Edit: Solved. Thanks for helping a beginner. I was completely forgetting to return the strings and assign them to variables.</p>