Hello Mary Sue, Goodbye Flawed RPG Characters

Thanks to Skotos.net for its article discussing the problems of perfect 'Mary Sue' characters in online MUD/MUSH environments. The author starts by explaining: "Mary Sue is what, in writing, is called an author avatar, wherein the writer creates an idealized version of him/herself and sticks the resulting character into the story." But as this is part of playing games, what's the big deal? It's argued: "The herd of people trampling over each other to be the most at something, be it beauty, wealth, or grotesqueness, is going to affect everyone else's characters. For starters, if the standard for beauty has been raised so high that pretty people are average, the average characters are now ugly. If the standard for wealth goes from a million dollars to a trillion, the millionaires are the new middle class. It messes with the game's dynamic, and that's bound to make people who are trying to create reasonable and balanced characters cranky."

Comments

Not just MUDs

[kylus]

This is a common problem in any setting where the individual player has near-limitless control over the abilities of his or her player character. In the IRC Free Form RPG I frequent we have called them 'GodPCs' and they are a recurring and annoying problem. People, especially younger ones, tend to think that the point of such games is to have 'the best' PC and they do not realize that a balanced character with flaws and weaknesses can be much more fun to play and develop in the game's setting rather than one that has nothing to work on, and can kill mighty dragons with his or her left pinkie finger.

Sadly, the article is correct when it says these sorts of characters will always be around. What we've attempted to do is give new players or those we see with potential 'Mary Sue' characters some pointers and advice, along with some educational writing about how to make a good player character. That's really the best one can do.

Re:Yeah Right

[arkanes]

Absolutely. You're being kinda blinded by the gameplay mechanics of 'computer' RPGs. The article is talking more about freeform social stuff (the computer part is incidental, really), where theres plenty of people (and the point of the "game", really) is the RP, not the game mechanics. You'll also find people who, say, aren't willing to exploit cheats or macros because they don't find that fun and get cranky when they get beat on by people who do.

Re:Wanna know what I think?

[Blakey Rat]

Ok, I'm sorry, but you're utterly missing the point here.

What you're describing is min-maxing... creating characters specifically to ensure that their stats are as high as possible and they can beat other characters in combat. This is a problem because it produces hundreds of characters who are the same race, class and have the same skill set.

What the article is talking about is Mary Sues... they have *nothing* to do with stats, skills, or race in a game. They only have to do with the story telling aspects of the game. How the character acts, behaves and speaks. The coded combat system has nothing to do with Mary Sues whatsoever.

Seriously, if you haven't played a text-based RP MUD, MUSH or freeform chat before, this article simply does not apply to you... your comments here are moderated incorrectly because, really, all they are is off-topic.

And moderators: Please make sure you know the topic before you moderate.