The "Mary Sue" Problem

[Kethron]

I think every roleplayer has been guilty of this, at least a little, at some point in their roleplaying life.

MARY SUE (n.): 1. A variety of story, first identified in the fan fiction community, but quickly recognized as occurring elsewhere, in which normal story values are grossly subordinated to inadequately transformed personal wish-fulfillment fantasies, often involving heroic or romantic interactions with the cast of characters of some popular entertainment. 2. A distinctive type of character appearing in these stories who represents an idealized version of the author. 3. A cluster of tendencies and characteristics commonly found in Mary Sue-type stories. 4. A body of literary theory, originally generated by the fanfic community, which has since spread to other fields (f.i., professional SF publishing) because it’s so darn useful. The act of committing Mary Sue-ism is sometimes referred to as “self-insertion.”

As it says on The Official Mary Sue Society Avatar Appreciation Site, Mary Sue
…is created to serve one purpose: wish fulfillment. … She did not receive her current name until the early 1970s. The original was Lieutenant Mary Sue (“the youngest Lieutenant in the fleet — only fifteen and a half years old”) as immortalized in Paula Smith’s “A Trekkie’s Tale,” which she wrote and published in her 1974 fanzine Menagerie #2.

Mary Sue, as this archetype became known, was generally a brilliant, beautiful, multi-talented girl Starfleet officer who joined the Enterprise crew and usually either made off with a main male canon character’s heart (or several of them!), or died dramatically in his arms. I’m sure anyone in any fandom out there who’s read fanfiction can make a similar analogy within their own experiences. Mary Sues exist in every fanficdom:

— the pretty new Immortal who stumbles into MacLeod’s (or Methos’) arms
— the uberpowered kid who joins Generation X
— the female bronzerider with her firelizard flock
— the kitchen-drudge-cum-HeraldMage out on her first circuit
— the notorious Marrissa Amber Flores Picard Gordon…

[Kethron]

Conversely, there are also Dark Mary Sues. The author of the article rightly states that the inserted villians can often be worse than the heroes.

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/www/colum ... rld53.html

[Verdigris]

Heh...interesting stuff. Certainly good for a chuckle.

[Kethron]

Heh...interesting stuff. Certainly good for a chuckle.

After reading up on Mary Sue'isms, I've definitely been more aware of when people do this. I've been spending most of my recent time with TERA, and have noticed it in RP events and when people write character fiction pertaining to the game.

I don't mean that to sound BAD - most of the RP in TERA so far has been really solid, and the people friendly. I think everyone, in every game or RP scenario, puts at least a little of their own personality into a character. Some do so more than others, and the only time it's really a "problem" is when the character becomes a self-fulfillment exercise at the expense of others.

[BurningNebula]

Been guilty of it myself.

[Kethron]

Been guilty of it myself.

Everyone has, to some degree. What was interesting was doing the "Mary Sue Test" with various characters. For instance, my main TERA character, Vhen, scored a realtively low 21:

Vhen is only a little like you. He may be popular, or he may not, but no matter what he's impossible to ignore; he stands out... just the way you always wanted to. There's never been anything special about him that he could see; boy, is he in for a surprise. He's got no emotional scars to speak of. And he's gotten no slack from you.

In general, you care deeply about Vhen, but you're smart enough to let him stand on his own, without burdening him with your personal fantasies or propping him up with idealization and over-dramatization. Vhen is a healthy character with a promising career ahead of him.

Score Breakdown
I Love Him, I Let Him Go 7
Yo! 13
Plain Joe 0
Healthy as a Horse 0
Momma HATES Him! 1
Total: 21

I made Vhen has "light" in background on purpose, so that he could be more of a "reactive" character, living in the world of Arborea.

Kethron, on the other hand, scores a much higher 54:

Kethron isn't a character: he's you, or you as you'd like to be. He isn't really very cool: he blends into crowds, he hangs out on the fringes at parties, and wearing shades after dark makes him run into things. He may have sometimes thought that he was special, or destined for greater things, but probably dismissed the idea as a fantasy. He's had more than his fair share of hard knocks, and probably spends more time than he ought moaning about it. And he's gotten no slack from you.

You may have let yourself get a little too close to Kethron. Maybe he's you as you wish you were, or maybe you're just afraid no one will like him and are trying to give him a free ride. Have some confidence in your writing! Kethron is a good character. Give him room to be himself before you stifle him.

Score Breakdown
Mirror, Mirror 24
You Mean Plaid Is Out? 8
I'm Destined For What? 6
Angst R Us 13
Momma HATES Him! 3
Total: 54

[Kethron]

The results for Kethron are actually spot on. When I developed Kethron, he was, essentially, Tanor 2.0. I developed Tanor for WoW, and ported the personality traits into Kethron, who was originally created for Age of Conan. I never intentially made Tanor/Kethron to be a reflection of me, but for whatever reason (perhaps where I was at that time in my life), I needed an alternate me.

By the way, you can find that test here - The Writer's Mary Sue Test: http://www.katfeete.net/writing/marysue.html

[BurningNebula]

Neat I'll take the test for Nephizul hehe

[Kethron]

Neat I'll take the test for Nephizul hehe

It's fun, and quite helpful in keeping characters in perspective.

[BurningNebula]

Nephizul is suspiciously similar to you as you'd like to be. He is so impossibly hip that he has difficulty seeing over his own pelvis; he'll probably die young, but damn, will it have been a good life. He'd have to be pretty dense to miss the signs that he is destined for great things; he can hardly take a walk without tripping over a sword in a stone or a mysterious old woman wanting to tell his fortune. He's had more than his fair share of hard knocks, and probably spends more time than he ought moaning about it. And you've been sparing with the free handouts: whatever he gains, he's worked for.

You identify far too heavily with Nephizul, and defend him from all sides, never realizing that in your quest to make him perfect you are alienating your readers. Back off and take a break. Try writing the story from the viewpoint of a different character, one you have less sympathy with... or writing a different story and coming back to this one.