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Mary Sues!

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Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby BoysWillBeBoys on Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:31 pm

Gary Stues! What the fuck ever!

Ah, the bane of my existence. The oh-so-perfect can-make-anyone-squeal characters. You find them everywhere. The classic example of someone trying to reproduce themselves in a fictional world without flaws.

Wow. I sounded smart there. AMAZAZING.

Anyways, on to my rant.

Your typical roleplay. But wait, here comes the 8 year old vampire that feeds off of fruit! Don't be scared of me, worst thing I can do is snap and suck you dry! I'm also stronger than your 24 year old that has been working out for most of his life, act older than any eight year old you've ever met, and I'm secretly over 100 years old and have been through some of the goriest wars ever! I also am immune to sunlight, I can survive being cut down the spine, and I have too many powers and secret to name!

Bleh. My brain explodes right there, people. I'm sure you can come up with your own stories of these godforsaken piles of BS.
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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Kronos on Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:34 pm

Anyone who can dodge heavy suppression fire from two Browning M2 Machine guns?

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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Amamelina on Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:50 pm

Oh, darling, I can tell you stories. Let's see, something from my past. Oh! I have a good one.

Try the master level fighter who is so good, no one can ever hurt him. Immune to magical attacks. A genius (or supposed to be. After all, you're only as smart as your player). The son of the Goddess and the only one who can save the world from the Dark God. Ungodly handsome with women falling all over him.

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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Black_Dragon on Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:47 am

Hundreds of stories to tell, not enough time to explain.

Anyone else hate it when someone uses a character from something already existing, and just modifies them slightly?

Or the vampire loves human stories/ characters....................*hisses at them*
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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Ryand-Smith on Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:39 pm

Its funny, the best way to deal with these pricks is to simply parody them, or play off them for laughs. I for example, have a PRIEST, who believes ALL VAMPIRES, are EVIL, so let him go nuts in this case.

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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Cass on Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:10 am

Well, you either laugh, parody, or cringe at it to be sure.

I had a Catgirl slave that I parodied in the yahoo chat rooms for years. The basis of it was an ad that sold the Catgirl as if she were a Ronco dehydrator. She even came with sea monkeys and jinsu steak knives. Only $19.99 plus shipping and handling. $2 extra for orders in the virgin islands and hawaii.

Now, let me say that I -never- actually roleplayed her. (-shudder-) I would just sit and spam the ad after about the tenth catgirl looking for perverted sex act post I saw. It was good for a laugh but nothing more.

I do have a small confession to make that is worse than that though. I Parodied Richard Slimmons and rp'd him right down to the letter. He'd hit on anything with legs and was a guru of health and fitness. If I didn't like you, Richard would be on you faster than a fat chick on a twinkie. We had alot of laughs from this.

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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Amamelina on Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:12 am

Hey, cass, did she come with a money back guarentee if you weren't completely satisfied?

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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Cass on Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:25 am

Sure did. Lol

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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby kingmonkey+1 on Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:24 am

Whenever I read story with a Mary Sue character, I kind of feel sad. Basically, such an avatar is just a way for someone to feel good about themselves. In real life, the author is typically powerless to control events around him or her. They may cover it up with an aggressive overconfidence, as some players I knew in high school did, but typically it stems from low self-esteem. By writing themselves into stories, and furthermore giving themselves a degree of absolute power, they can live vicariously through their creations and not have to face whatever makes them feel small in real life.

If you play or write Mary Sue characters, just know that kingmonkey is hereby giving you a virtual hug. Offer not valid in all states.
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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Skallagrim on Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:40 am

*shrug* G/Mary Sues usually grow after a few years and the players become more...mature? I know I know it's difficult to see but it does happen.
Although the emo teen vampire/werewolf/angel/demon hybrid character does get ridiculous after the first million...in the same role-play!!!!
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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Athias on Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:54 am

I also hate Mary-sues, I suppose it's the whole; 'Hey look at me, my character is a clone of Superman made by evil scientists, but he was good and escaped from them. He's like superman, only his outfit looks cooler, and he's 2x as strong, 2x as fast and is immune to kryptonite." thing isn't exactly enjoyable. But many RPers who use Mary/Gary-sues/stus are beginers, and are just learning the rules of the game, so that's acceptable. My problem stems from people who have been RPing for a long period of time, think they're the best, and still use a ridiculously unimaginative, overpowered character.
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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby kingmonkey+1 on Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:59 am

That's a different thing, Athias. Maybe I'm mistaken, but a Mary Sue is a self-insert (and yes, typically is better, faster, stronger, et cetera-er than everyone else). It's this need for self-gratification through proxy that saddens me.

A player who plays a munchkin (that's the term we used to use for D&D players who were all-powerful; you know, the guys with a Haver Sack with two Tarrasque heads, they carry both hands and eyes of Vecna... basically, unstoppable, god-killing machines with nuclear-swords, and the power to wipe entire continents off the map with a fart) is sad, sure, but it's not necessarily a self-insert. A power fantasy is not always a self-insert, though they serve many of the same needs.

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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Tarmo of the Dusk on Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:00 pm

Skallagrim wrote: human/elemental/weirdthingamajigger hybrid character


That included in your list, Skal?

If so, I like Riel >:3
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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Athias on Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:38 pm

kingmonkey+1 wrote:That's a different thing, Athias. Maybe I'm mistaken, but a Mary Sue is a self-insert (and yes, typically is better, faster, stronger, et cetera-er than everyone else). It's this need for self-gratification through proxy that saddens me.

A player who plays a munchkin (that's the term we used to use for D&D players who were all-powerful; you know, the guys with a Haver Sack with two Tarrasque heads, they carry both hands and eyes of Vecna... basically, unstoppable, god-killing machines with nuclear-swords, and the power to wipe entire continents off the map with a fart) is sad, sure, but it's not necessarily a self-insert. A power fantasy is not always a self-insert, though they serve many of the same needs.

I could be wrong to, but I thought that Mary-sue could also apply to scenerios where the character isn't a self-insert but aridiculously strong/perfect member of an RP. Since I don't read fanfiction, I know of the existance of that type of Mary-Sue, but I don't really encounter it.

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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Tarmo of the Dusk on Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:45 pm

Athias wrote:
kingmonkey+1 wrote:That's a different thing, Athias. Maybe I'm mistaken, but a Mary Sue is a self-insert (and yes, typically is better, faster, stronger, et cetera-er than everyone else). It's this need for self-gratification through proxy that saddens me.

A player who plays a munchkin (that's the term we used to use for D&D players who were all-powerful; you know, the guys with a Haver Sack with two Tarrasque heads, they carry both hands and eyes of Vecna... basically, unstoppable, god-killing machines with nuclear-swords, and the power to wipe entire continents off the map with a fart) is sad, sure, but it's not necessarily a self-insert. A power fantasy is not always a self-insert, though they serve many of the same needs.

I could be wrong to, but I thought that Mary-sue could also apply to scenerios where the character isn't a self-insert but aridiculously strong/perfect member of an RP. Since I don't read fanfiction, I know of the existance of that type of Mary-Sue, but I don't really encounter it.


I believe it's called a power fantasy as well.
Also, involves the art of power-playing, where as your character is untouchable and so perfect it hits on almost every strike (I.E God modding, power-play.)

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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Keikeiya on Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:58 pm

I think the only thing that really does bother me about Mary Sues is simply the over-powerment. I hate characters who are PERFECT at ABSOLUTELY everything. I once did a quick rp battle and everything I did the character was MAGICALLY immune to everything. I swear, she could have had he entire world blow up and everyone die but she would have escaped flawlessly with no injuries. Godmodding to the extreme!
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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Skallagrim on Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:28 pm

Tarmo wrote:
Skallagrim wrote: human/elemental/weirdthingamajigger hybrid character


That included in your list, Skal?

If so, I like Riel >:3


Hmm maybe depends on if we have a flood of high school role-plays with these types of emo characters jumping all over the boards, if they do then they will make my list.

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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Zhelir Darkfall on Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:12 am

I can agree with disliking Power Gaming, but my own experience with it differs. In situations where you have a considerably larger force against the power gamer, it can actually be quite fun. Almost a co-op boss battle, if you will. You have a multitude of people working together to try to bring down an all-powerful foe; it can (assuming the power gamer is at least a decent writer) turn out to be a much more enjoyable story to both participate in and read than simply seeing two equally matched opponents duke it out.

Don't get me wrong, though. I can definitely see the irritation in it.

For Mary Sues, it's always been the social aspect that irritates me to no end. To gather my thoughts on it better, I submit to you a list of Mary Sue-type personalities and why they piss me off.

+Ridiculously antisocial. If you refuse all human contact, your character becomes nothing but a burden to the RP, as they don't interact with the rest, and thus do little to nothing to further the story.

+Ridiculously emotional. Characters that explode over the drop of a hat and likewise turn into a 10-year-old schoolgirl over tiny compliments and what have you(without a decent reason -- probably medical -- at least) destroy any sense of believability in that character.

+Ridiculously charming. These are quite possibly the worst for annoyance-level. The character that drops cheesy romance lines and always knows the right thing to say/right action to perform to cheer someone up or woo them just make me want to rake the Player's face across a keyboard, in hopes something more enjoyable will be produced.

+Ridiculously traumatized. Don't get me wrong, having a traumatic past is fine, I'm talking about the character who had his/her parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, children, spouse, and dog wiped out by some hideously evil being and CANNOT STOP BRINGING IT UP. Just as in the real world, no one wants to be constantly reminded that your life sucks and you suck as a byproduct of it.

+Ridiculously cute. I'm talking the catgirl schoolgirl that always has a cute remark about any situation (Oh dear, his head exploded and now my dress is ruined! *Pout*), and blatantly tries to garner male attention through said means. The same applies in reverse, with Ridiculously Masculine. Any girl this cute needs to be abducted and any guy this macho needs to top the world-record for the Macho Competition, which is to this day held by a Scottsman for cutting his own head off with a chainsaw.

+Ridiculously perfect. This affliction usually includes one of, if not all of, the above, as well as other generally annoying traits. They always know the solution, always have the right answer, can always cheer people up, never is afraid, never is confused, always confident. If you need an explanation, chances are one or more of your characters need to be killed, with the potential for yourself as well.
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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Treize Khushrenada on Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:25 am

Zhelir Darkfall wrote:In situations where you have a considerably larger force against the power gamer, it can actually be quite fun. Almost a co-op boss battle, if you will. You have a multitude of people working together to try to bring down an all-powerful foe; it can (assuming the power gamer is at least a decent writer) turn out to be a much more enjoyable story to both participate in and read than simply seeing two equally matched opponents duke it out.


Whatever could you be referring to? >.>

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Re: Mary Sues!

Tips: 0.00 INK Postby Matthias on Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:32 am

Me. As I am the most epic boss you all will ever face!

BWUAHAHAHAHA
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