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

Re:real life

[Eustace Tilley]

How would you make a MMORPG signifigant for 'casual' players, yet not boring or too easy for the 'hardcore?'

• Calendar-based rewards such as rental income, interest, dividends, employee earnings, and factory sales, that accrue whether the player is online or offline.
• Distinct rewards for logistic, strategic, and tactical activities.
• In-game auctions of equipment and pre-built characters, both for hourly rental and outright sale.

Re:Who is the what now?

[*weasel]

It's really not at all like the powergamer/munchkin rants. It's a seperate situation that's really only a 'problem', in games where one person literally can not be more powerful than any other.

You don't mind powergamers, because they don't bother you while you play a game. With Free form Role Playing (FFRP), Mary Sues can and do get in the way of other player's stories.

Mary-Sues are a trend that's only 'a problem' in free-form roleplaying MUSHES, MOOS and IRC RP (FFRP). These games have no hard and fast 'rule' systems, and leave all aspects of storytelling up to the players -- a sort of authorship anarchy. The only rules regarding character design and interaction are social rules.

If you want your vampire to have the BFG9000 that destroys Chicago - you can have it. Players might choose to ignore you, or even warn/ban egregious offenders - but they can't actually stop you from doing it. Similarly, there is no BFG, there is no Chicago, and there is no result of your destruction - unless other players decide to react to it.

If you've never seen it done, it likely seems entirely arbitrary, or at least, off-the-wall. Even after you've seen it done - most wonder how it can be consistantly fun. But that's neither here nor there. People do enjoy it - but it relies on everyone to cooperate. It's more communal authorship, or spontaneous play-acting, than traditional game playing.

Mary Sue's are unavoidable in FFRP, because while everyone likes to play games - not everyone is a good author. Free-form Roleplaying relies on players to not step on each other's toes and to be at least decent storytellers.

It's for that reason that 'idealized' characters are looked down upon. Not because they're 'best' but because those characters have been done to death - and their stories are old hat.

Even well-behaved 'perfect' Mary Sues are considered undesireable because their perfection denies the opportunity for character growth through storytelling. Their flawless moral compass removes any chance at dramatic tension, or emotional weight to conflict (because the perfect Mary-Sue will always win).

Archetyped Mary Sues (E.g. knockoff Drizzts, Rasputins, and Sherlocks) are considered undesireable because those characters have been done to death. Few people want to read yet another story where Holmes catches the villain whilst everyone else bumbles about. So in the average social setting, most people won't want to cooperate with the stories such players want to tell.

Much of the 'fun' people have in FFRP, is in the creation of their own character, and the discovery of other characters. With Mary Sue's - this entire aspect is lost.

In other persistent worlds that have rule systems (MUDs/EQ/UO/etc), at the worst Mary Sues becomes snicker-worthy. Someone might roleplay a Mary Sue in EQ, but just because they want to be the greatest warrior ever doesn't mean anything. They have to work through the system like everyone else. They don't automatically have the power to completely derail the story being told by others. (arguably because there isn't one, not in the same way as in an FFRP)