Slashdot Mirror
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."
"Sadly"? Come on. It's a game; it's supposed to be fun. What's wrong with being able to kill mighty dragons with his or her lefy pinkie finger? Sounds like a great idea to me.
Your way is one way of playing the game. There are others. And I wouldn't call the resulting conflict a 'problem;' it is simply a game design issue that needs to be addressed, in order to provide the environment needed for foster many different playing styles. Remember, every person has a different idea of what's "fun."
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)
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
There is no answer to that question. What you are really asking is, why can't a person who playes 5 hours a week be just as good as someone who plays 40 hours a week? The answer is they wont, ever. This is a simple fact of life. If I play volleyball once a week for 5 years, I am probably going to be decent. But joe powergamer plays 5 times a week for 5 years. He's going to kick my ass at it, because he puts more time in it.
Here is the difference though, with a game like EQ, where time is almost the only factor in strength. You can limit the ability to gain power or level/skill up to such a small degree that the casual guy would hit the ceiling in a month or so. But that means it'll take the powergamer about a week.
This questoin just frustates me. It's like, I want to be as strong as the powergamer!!!111 I'm going to put in 40 hours and I want to not die to the power gamer!!! It is going to take me a month to put in 40 hours!
Ok, so the designers make a game that takes 40 hours to max out. Uber gamer puts 40 hours in one weeek and is maxed. "casual" players bitch.
You can limit the amount of time in real life hours. That would suck. "Sorry, you played too much, come back next week." Or they log in and cant make any gains at all, guess what, they'll move on to the next game.
You can have everyone come into the game max skill and power and let them configure their guys before the game starts. This is like rpg quake though, no skill or stat gains isnt what people want, and anyway, causual players would still get owned BECAUSE THEY DONT PUT THE TIME IN!
God damn people, thats how life works, you want to be social, learn to be social, you want to be good at a sport, play the god damn sport, you want to lose weight, fucking exercise, you want to be good at a game, put the time in.
You're not making the right distinction between MMORPGs and MUDs/MUSHs.
t /Barbarian/Healer/Paladin/Thief, son of three or more assorted Gods and their unholy union with the Queen of someplace-or-other who seems to suddenly know the exact skills he needs suddenly every time he gets into a new situation?
t /Barbarian/Healer/Paladin/Thief, whereas specialists who accept weaknesses (by not leveling every skill in the book) will have a functional character in a fraction of the play-time, and can then go on to master other skills as well.
MMORPGs make you do all the work with character development - you're actions determine your experience gain and income, your reputation and "background" doesn't extend before you clicked "Continue" on the character creation screen.
That's one cup of tea.
MUDs/MUSHs tend to work more like table-top pen-and-paper RPGs. How would you like it if you were playing D&D, and you're friend insisted on being Lotar - the rich, dashing, heroic Warrior/Wizard/Fighter/Cleric/Archer/Shaman/Pries
It's annoying in MMORPGs, but they're mostly marketed to that kind of player, and they usually make you spend years making a functional Warrior/Wizard/Fighter/Cleric/Archer/Shaman/Pries
In MUDs, where interaction between players and continuing storylines are the top priorities, one or two characters like this can really fsck up the game as a whole. Also, those characters who take weaknesses initially often can't diversify later, or are limited in their ability to do so. There the main reason I quit playing those games.
Some of them even give players the power to *create* characters already on the road to the aforementioned ludicrous state of being, and lets them do whatever bizzare thing the player can type (like, to continue the example used in the article, having quintadecituplets, only to have somebody else have twins without the help of a wife just to outdo you), and leave the "rules" to be enforced by GMs or even the players as a whole.