Mary Sue Test

[Mezrin]

Not sure if this has been posted before, I haven't seen it, so...

http://www.freewebs.com/aerosolspraycan/marysue.html

I got a 0. Woo!

[Xigo]

This has been posted before, yes. But I figure I'll do it with different characters.

Arianna Dawnbreaker: 0

Skyfin: -1

Paota Blackaxe: 0

Dagrim Blackarrow: -3

Xigo: -6

Vorthus Selgore: -5

Damn straight, Skyfin scored a -1 even though he's a Murloc. (That I will never get to play)

[dastmo]

I got 4 for Hebry... too lazy to do it for the rest of my chars (also, knowing my other chars, some of them might go above 10, which is a horrible scenario for me :P ).

[Presentdent]

Cripes. I was just futsing around with this, trying various mary-sue qualities to see what made one really horrendous.

Just naming the character for yourself automatically nets you ten points! Mary-Sueness imminent!

[Haim]

I found that I did alright in this test.. Not too Mary sue, except for Seth. Oh dear lord.

[Morcynt]

I never get why people are so tied up in this Mary Sue thing especially since real people can test out as Mary-Sues. The epitome of anti-Mary Sue isn't an interesting character nine times out of ten and neither is the Super Sue. Having a character that is similar to you looks or otherwise... I don't get why that has anything to do with how you RP. As long as the character isn't Kael'thas and Sylvannas' secret love child who is an all powerful Paladin who had Arthas' bastard child, and is now the leader of the Blood Knights... you're good in my book, heh. As long as there is a reason for everything that isn't... far fetched by Fantasy standards why does it matter? A warlock speaks demonic... I mean it's a WARLOCK they have to have someway to commune with their demons that's not mary-sue ish, now... a paladin who speaks demonic... yeah I can see that as being a little ''Mary-Sue'' like.

The term is more broadly associated with characters who are exceptionally and improbably lucky. The good luck may involve romance ("Mary Sue" always gets her man); adventure ("Mary Sue" always wins a fight or knows how to solve the puzzle) and popularity (the "right people" seem to gravitate towards the character). These characters have few problems while attempting to achieve their goals. "Everything goes her way" is a common criticism regarding "Mary Sues", the implication being that the character is not sufficiently humanized or challenged to be interesting or sympathetic.

That is from Wikipedia, see boring... but so is an ugly character who is improbably unlucky that gets predictable and annoying after a while. So I say... walk the line because if your characters are consistently 0-3 on that test you probably need a little help from the imagination fairy and if it's 20+ you ... also need imagination help because you're probably relying too hard on the cliche.

Sorry, I have just had forever an issue with this, as a writer and an avid reader I have found that most people over demonize the Mary Sue thing. A little is okay, it makes your character interesting enough to not be... well uninteresting. I dare you to find a fantasy novel about a fat ugly guy who goes adventuring and fails in his quest.

In RP we should stress not being associated with Cannon characters more than how your character looks and what languages they speak. The disallowing of Godmodding and meta gaming does away with the ability to truly be 100% all powerful anyways.

I'm just ranting... I hate the whole mary-sue thing with a passion because they never give enough points to the worst ones.

[Catherina]

11 - 20 - The Borderline Sue - You're doing pretty well, but it might be advantageous to go back and check some things. If you don't mind cliches and think you can pull off the character, more power to you.

12 =( I change one thing and I get 2 >.>

That depends.. Do you guys' think I copied of my own name when I did Cathi from Catherina? ((Katrine in danish))

[Beltharean]

Do you guys' think I copied of my own name when I did Cathi from Catherina?

Yeah, pretty much. :3

[SweetSpirit]

Huh. Well I got a 0 for one of my upcoming character ideas. Neat [[However I know that to be untrue. It WOULD have been bigger if there was an option for what the character idea is about on the mary sue page.]]

This is a great find, basically a version of the http://www.onlyfiction.net/marysue2.html that fits much better for WoW RP. ^-^

[Piroska]

Having a character that is similar to you looks or otherwise... I don't get why that has anything to do with how you RP.

A large part of being a Mary Sue is wish fulfillment. A lot of neophyte writers start out by putting themselves into the medium of which they're writing. Their characters aren't characters, but rather just themselves in a different place or a different world or a different universe. As a result of this connection with their characters, they often seize this opportunity (intentionally or otherwise) to fix perceived flaws and improve themselves.

As a result, a Mary Sue tends to be a flat character, lacking any overt form of development. They also tend to possess a bevvy of talents and traits that make them appear unrealistic, even in the most fantastic of settings. They're too perfect and, as a result, are often boring. How can readers feel a connection to a character that can undergo any trial with her doting hero on her arm, possesses no flaws, and with nary a hair out of place?

The term "Mary Sue" is derived from a Star Trek fanfiction written in, phew, the early '70s. Mary Sue epitomized wish fulfillment:

• She was the youngest Lieutenant in the Fleet at fifteen years old;
  
• She had romantic liaisons with established characters and, as I recall, nobility;
  
• She was adopted by a major character and taken underwing as his protege; and
  
• She managed a number of fantastic feats that surpassed even the most grandiose of expectations.

I'd like to note something important that was probably mentioned on the page -- as well as on the original Mary Sue thread and a number of our wiki's articles. Possessing one or two or even six characteristics does not make a character a Mary Sue (or her masculine counterpart, Gary Stu). Determining a Mary Sue is a subjective thing and requires a large compilation of traits.

For me, I consider the phrase Mary Sue to be a good thing. I know that it can be intimidating to neophyte writers, but that concern can also force writers to think outside of their comfort zones. A large part of being a writer is writing about what she knows; in order to write about things that she may not necessarily know, a writer must research, learn, and grow herself! Sure, we don't have access to experts in various fields like professional writers do, but there is a plethora of information at our fingertips at the library or through the life experiences of friends and family, and even the Internet.

I know that when I myself write (or even the development phase of a character for roleplaying), I do tend to do research of topics that not only ground my characters in the universes in which they participate, but also help provide guidance and direction in fleshing out their histories, their personalities, and their traits. This is knowledge that I possess that can help make me a better writer.

And y'know me. I also love knowledge for knowledge's sake.

[Catherina]

I don't mind being a slight Mary Sue but I let people RP as they are.. =( The whole part of them wanting to improve themselfs is their own personale buisness, I won't intervene in it.

[Morcynt]

Having a character that is similar to you looks or otherwise... I don't get why that has anything to do with how you RP.

A large part of being a Mary Sue is wish fulfillment. A lot of neophyte writers start out by putting themselves into the medium of which they're writing. Their characters aren't characters, but rather just themselves in a different place or a different world or a different universe. As a result of this connection with their characters, they often seize this opportunity (intentionally or otherwise) to fix perceived flaws and improve themselves.

As a result, a Mary Sue tends to be a flat character, lacking any overt form of development. They also tend to possess a bevvy of talents and traits that make them appear unrealistic, even in the most fantastic of settings. They're too perfect and, as a result, are often boring. How can readers feel a connection to a character that can undergo any trial with her doting hero on her arm, possesses no flaws, and with nary a hair out of place?

Yes, but many professional writers do this and still manage rather likable characters. Take for instance ALL of Laurell K. Hamilton's (Notice how both Anita Blake and Merry Gentry have long dark curly hair and pale skin and zomg so does the author) female characters are in fact Mary Sue Self insertions, and she makes a rather substantial living off of it and her characters are predictable but still rather like able. Anne Rice did this too but... it's not a self insertion as much as it was her Husband as Lestat, but she was able to walk the line with it beautifully.

A terrible Mary Sue of a main character is also... -.- Richard from the Sword of Truth series of books (which I love) and Rand from Wheel of Time... though to a much lesser extent. What I am getting at is the standard Fantasy Hero/ine is a Mary Sue/Gary Stu

I will give you that a lot of times RP self insertions are played terribly. However, too perfect is just as bad as too flawed, which is why middle ground on this topic is best like in all things, moderation.

Also a lot of these Mary Sue abilities are removed in RP because you can't be a true Mary Sue without being a Godmoder or Metagamer. Nothing is going to always go your way when you're RPing because you're interacting with someone else. Your back story may be able to make you a Mary Sue but it's very hard to continue Mary Sue-ness when you add other people to the mix. And if your character is flat and under developed that doesn't have much to do with Mary Sue-ing really because any character can be flat and underdeveloped Mary-Sue or no, I know... I RPed a really terrible Pirate once that would have scored a big whopping 0 on the Mary Sue scale... annnnd he was terrible so I scrapped him.

[Geoni]

There were some irrelevant things in there like: "Is your character an elf?"

Um...there are two elf races in this game so I guess many people get some automatic mary-sue points!

Anyways, I got a 4 for Ghurm, but I didn't know what was meant by "can your character shapeshift into an unusual form?". I checked that because I thought the aquatic form as unusual in a sense of not many tauren druids approach that form. I like this test and I think I'll use it more often, even if some of the questions need clarification and reform.

[MaskofMany]

The Mary Sue test on the CotH wiki is perfect for WoW, I think.
The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test is more for writing, text-based, or tabletop games than WoW.