Mary Sue, Gary Stu, Other Things
Now more than ever, fan fiction is recognized as legitimate art, and thousands of RPG’s from many universes are all over the internet…not to mention on paper. characters can make or break a story, liven up an RPG or cause it to die. How? Well, for every good character created, is a bad one. One which can totally ruin the feel of a good story, eliminate cannon characters, and turn a reader off faster than you can say the word, “Mary Sue.”
What is a Mary Sue? Well, have you ever read a fic in your favorite universe, where a woman comes into the picture? Well I’m sure we all have, that isn’t the problem. The problem is when this woman is just a wish fulfillment for an author, written to swing to the rescue, become the love interest of every main male character, and become the rival of every female. She upstages everyone else, to the point where even the main cannon characters are helping and supporting her. That’s not all; she is absolutely perfect, almost to the point of being annoying. She has to be unique, because normalcy is too ordinary, she’s often a teen, or looks like one. She often has powers that don’t fit into the universe she’s in…she’s the best, the brightest, but lacks any evidence of the experience that it takes to be the best. Right now, we’ll explore the main types of sues, how to avoid them, and what universes are in danger of them. We’ll even discuss how to tell if you have a sue and what to do if you do. Remember, this is mostly for RPG’s, but you can also use it to help out with fan fiction as well.
The main types of Sues:
The Victim Sue: This Sue is one of the most common. All she does is whine and cry. She is very melodramatic and makes even the most empathetic reader roll her eyes and say “Oh please…” She often will be kidnap by the villain, where her romantic interest, some main character, will have to rescue her so that way they can either live happily ever after, or she will die is some super tragic manner. She will often play the victim, making sensible and well liked characters seem like lowdown villains. She evokes the sympathy of at least one of the main characters, and will often have them fall for her because of her crying over being an orphan. She is also fond of trivialized rape and or suicide attempts as means of provoking sympathy. She will generally manifest some great power once she believes in herself. Either that, or she makes the most cold-hearted villain’s heart melt as if it were nothing. Luckily, she isn’t the worst kind, and if played right, you can evolve her into a better character with ease.
Examples: The poor rich girl who longs for adventure, with an amazingly tragic past. She fills each post with sob stories over arranged marriages, and after a while you look for an excuse to end that thread because you can only hold her while she cries for so many pages.
The Warrior Sue: The warrior Sue is another common Sue. She is brash and loud, she often has a criminal record but never feels the consequences of her actions. She often is a very amazing warrior, but it is just as often never explained how she got those skills. Except for the fact that the Warrior Sue has some super tragic past which makes her the way she is. She will often outdo even the best cannon characters The Warrior!Sue is usually loud, obnoxious and (of course) an amazing warrior. She'll usually have some tragic past that led her to become a warrior, and she'll upstage all of the cannon characters, even the best fighters without breaking a sweat. Like the Victim Sue, she can be salvaged if you play her right. How? Let others have the limelight, she doesn't have to be the one to win every fight. Avoid long melodramatic speeches every post about it, and remember to give her some weaknesses.
Examples: In your RPG, there’s the daughter of an infamous pirate, who not only blows the cannon out of the water with her sword skills, but even pretentiously has it in her bio that she’s the best in the world, despite only being 17. .
The Mage Sue: Often similar to the Warrior sue, but in regards to magic. She often possesses amazing strength in magic, enough to have every character express their astonishment more than once. Often her power is hidden until the end, and it is never explained how her skills developed to the level they are on. The problem with her is that she will upstage all other magical characters in the universe. If you have one of these, than you can fix it by giving her flaws. Why not a normal eye color? Why not show that she can’t just control the Kraken or out magic Tia Dalma? Why not have her screw up, run out of magic materials, etc?
Example: You’re a group of mages, some cannon, some OC. One of the OC comes up with a power that is not only impossible for that universe, but totally over the top. The worst part is they had no inclination of this before.
The Villain Sue: She often replaces, befriends or is romantically involved with a cannon character or villain. She often defeats cannons or other OC’s with ease. She has frequent suicidal thoughts but never goes through with them and is almost always secretly redeemable. Her tragic past is used to excuse her actions, and she often lets cannon’s live, not because of evil motivation such as ransom, or wanting them to suffer, but because she really isn’t as bad. In the end she often helps the good guys, and they never question her motives. To avoid a Villain Sue, why not make her genuinely evil? As in, why does she have good at heart? Give her some fears. Why not even the playing field, let her be beaten in the end, let her have a close victory. And if she does lose, don’t make it out of pure luck, but by the actual skills of the others. You do not know how many rpg threads are screwed up because when a villain was defeated she made this whole post over how it wasn’t the others’ skills who stopped her, but her own backfiring powers.
Example: You’re playing a villain. This person blows everyone out of the water, and has a bad attitude to boot. After many arguments over their tendency to godmod their powers, you get back on topic, and finally win, and lo and behold, they make a post going over how lucky you were because they had been injured before hand, or they had a breakdown with their powers, or suddenly saw the error of their ways.
The Helpful Sue: She is often friends with everyone or all of the cannon characters, and a natural savior of the day. She manages to jump in in the middle of the threads, ending an interesting scene with her saving the day,. She often has expert medical skills, despite being either under aged for such, or lacking in training. She’s often the cannon’s shoulder to cry on. That’s all well and good until she starts having all the cannons fall in love with her oh so charming personality. She can be often similar to the victim sue, because she is often envied by the other cannon. She is often disliked, because helpful Sue’s assume that everyone else is so incapable without her, that she always has to swoop into the rescue. This is the easiest one to fix; give her some selfish motives…don’t make her so beautiful, sweet and perfect. Maybe she is compulsive about something and that is why she has to do it herself. Or raise her age a bit. It’s rather annoying to have your thread invaded by a 15 medical expert who fights away all of your enemies and then runs over to heal you like it’s nothing…
Example: You’re in a fight thread. Everyone’s having a good time, and your backed into a corner. You decide to let your foe post first, and suddenly here comes character, saving the day because they assume that you just can’t do it yourself. Not only do they decide to kill everyone in the thread or send them running, but then they heal you, and save the day in one post…and you haven’t gotten two words out. (Note: It’s not the same as having someone join your fight, which is okay! This sue eliminates them in their first post, alleviating the need for it in the first place, and it goes from a group thread, to Sue warrior princess…)
Angry Sue: She’s mean, rebellious to a fault and just plain annoying. Every thread is littered with her snapping, or arguing, rolling her eyes and walking off. She often has no real reason to be this way, so her creator often makes up a rather ridiculous past to excuse her overall bitchiness. Often combined with the Warrior sue, and often hates being contradicted.
Example: This female character bosses everyone else around, constantly yell at them, make them feel like shit for having an opposing opinion and generally be a total bitch to everyone around her, before walking away.
What is a Gary Stu you ask? Well you could say a Gary Stu is a male version of a Mary Sue. A Gary Stue was once only criticized for being overly masculine and lacking no real flaws. The term has expanded to also encompass characters who over uses fictional cliché’s such as having a overly tragic past or are unrealistically popular, despite his actions. They are ANNOYINGLY perfect. They are often showed as the popular, almost exceptionally popular, super athletic jock of the story. They expect all women in the rp to fall for them, or all try to draw his attention. Many original characters are criticized as Gary Stu if they steal the spotlight or can miraculously escape near impossible predicaments with unlikely bouts of defiance, heroicness and manliness. Gary Stus will often appear in anime and manga, the term is even more powerful here because it has a handsome image to go with the description. Although they are less common than Mary Sues, they are still annoying, and are to be avoided.
The Main Types of Gary Stu:
Classic Gary Stu: These are usually your blonde haired, blue eyed, stereotypically gorgeous, pretty boys. They also tend gravitate towards sports, and are extremely popular. This is a rather vague term, and just because your character belongs in this genre doesn’t mean that he’s not savable. Just give him flaws; i.e. if he’s very popular, maybe he’s a bully. If he’s rich, make him spoiled, etc. If he’s a super jock, maybe you shouldn’t make him a genius.
Example: The perfect guy, who you get tired off because every thread consists of how popular he is with everyone, how rich he is, and how handsome he is. If I wanted to see all that, I’d watch 90210…..
Rebel Stu: This type usually has angst up the yang, and isn't *really* badass, he just wants to be because of an overly tragic past. He’s mean and obnoxious, and spends all of his time trying to be as depressing and non conformist as possible. He’s often loud and quick to fight others, but he never receives any consequences for his often illegal actions. He’s a lot more common than Classic, as many OC characters are modeled after characters who fall into this genre. He’s really over cynical. If you have one of these, you can save him by making him identifiable. Either make him less badass, or turn him into a villain like character and give him lots of personality flaws (make him take responsibility for his actions. Do things because he’s genuinely a jerk, not because daddy didn’t love him…).
Example: The angry bishonen wannabe, often with anime hair and a really bad attitude, despite the unlikeliness of any in this rpg…. He invades your thread, and spends the entire time being a total badass, talking down to others and starting fights wherever he goes, just because he wants to. Then he whines and angsts, and we all lie and say “Gotta go, dinner…”
Warrior Stu: He’s angry, he’s vicious, he is somehow able to leap in and kill thousands of the enemy without breaking a sweat. He’s unstoppable, invincible, and often has a strange magical overpowered weapon. Like the Rebel Stu, he’s loud and brash. He always tries to get into a fight, and always has to have the spotlight and over shadow everyone else. He often has his family killed as a reason for his actions, which is all well and good, when you use it ONCE. Often he was too many scars to count. Sadly, he is the most common of the Gary Stus, especially in this fandom. Trust me…you will know when you encounter him…
Example: The Captain who magically flips into your battle, assuming you can’t do it yourself, he begins killing everyone on both sides with his sword, sending blood everywhere, claiming he saved your but, all in one post, powerplaying and godmodding because he couldn’t get away with that otherwise, not to mention when you finally reply, he has to be a jerk….
The Sexy Stu: This Stu is obvious. He’s the one who spends every thread trying to hook up with someone of the opposite or same sex. Every thread is all about how attractive, or feminine, or perfect he is. There aren’t a lot of these, but when there is, you know he’s there.
Example: He saunters into the room, and after establishing just how much more attractive he is than the average man, he does an over the top flirting routine, and soon a Tortuga thread turns into a makeout session, causing all the other players to decide to get out while they still can….
Things to Avoid Unless Your Willing to Work a Bit:
Sorry to say this, but there are certain types of characters or professions you should avoid in RPG unless you are willing to do some research on them, or at least are willing to play them well, without breaking the RPG commandments, such as not godmodding, or staying away from a power play.
Demons or Supernatural Characters: Stay away from this if your very inexperienced. The reason why I say this is because it is too tempting to break the rules. Demon’s are often immortal unable to be defeated except for by certain and precise means. What’s to stop someone from just blowing everyone else away, or using their healing abilities to be unstoppable? If you have a demon or supernatural character, you’d better take hits, and you’d better have flaws. No one wants to rp with someone who can rip them to shreds every time. The reason why Widow and I play demons well is because we humanize them. We don’t spend every thread going over how unstoppable we are, even Demon’s have issues to work out.
Royalty: Being a noble is fine, but royalty comes with certain responsibilities that you have to be willing to rp. Often you need to research the cultures of the country you rule. For example, when I made Liz a countess, she was part of a very religious culture, and because of the circumstances behind her birth, she cannot claim her title. If your character is royalty, unless he has a good reason, then he really isn’t going to be the ultimate warrior. Also, if you have royalty either have them know, or don’t; don’t spend three pages of threads complaining about having to rule a kingdom, but not wanting to. Nemo embraces his role as a Prince, and not only wants to rule his home when the time comes, but he is always ready and willing to use his resources to further his goals. He doesn’t run around whining about having to rule anything, or trying to escape his obligations.
Military Characters: These can be hard to rp, because you need to…I repeat, you NEED TO BE MOSTLY ACCURATE. If you are a high ranking officer, your age needs to reflect that. Because if your 19 and an Admiral in the Royal Navy, and Norrington is at least in his late twenties, you’ve got a problem. Also, you need to follow ranking. If you’re a Midshipmen, than don’t expect to mouth off to a Captain and get away with it. James would never mouth off to a superior officer, unless he was pushed beyond the legal limits. If your only a Commodore, that’s what you are. Commodores only had command over few ships, they have no real say in government, and are stationed in an area. It’s only a temporary rank, and there are more than one. Don’t pull the “I’m a Commodore so I’m in charge of the entire navy and law in Port Royal” bit…because it doesn’t work. If you’re an admiral, you do not captain a ship, you might have a flag ship for your fleet, but you do not sail it. Your job is strategy now. Again I cannot stress semi-accuracy, mostly in the age category.
Assassins: There are far too many bad ones, and it makes many skeptical of the good ones. Why? Because, how many of you cannot say you’ve said, “Oh Please…” When you’ve read about another unstoppable assassin. You have to usually follow one of two ideologies: 1. You go for the highest bidder, your allegiance only depends on that. 2. You have a side, and like a privateer, your orders are to assassinate members of your enemy. If you don’t then your just asking for trouble unless you can really play a good assassin. Assassins normally keep their personal life and their business separate; they often keep their identity secret, and stick to stealthy methods. They don’t just swing in and cut every person in the room to pieces. They are used for their stealth and exclusiveness, not for their ability to kill everyone that stands.
Cannon Relationships: If you have an OC who has a relationship with a Cannon, you have to be careful. You absolutely must include the Cannons prior canonized relationships. For an example of a good cannon/OC relationship, see Belladonna. She plays the relationship in a way which allows it to be true to the cannon. She doesn’t say, “Elizabeth doesn’t exist.” Nor does she assassinate his character, she doesn’t change him to have him fall for her. That’s one thing that makes Cannon/OC relationships so hard to pull off in rpgs; when a OC ruins a Cannon’s personality or completely removes them from the picture.
The ‘I’m the only one’ ploy: Avoid this in your profiles at all costs. Nothing puts someone off more, than having a person make a profile, and then say, “She’s the best swordsman that ever has, or will ever live.” Especially if she’s young. Why? Because what would that say to people who have had their characters training in their swordplay for ten times as long? Being the only one makes rpg less fun, because your pretty much deciding the out come of every battle before it happens. How? Well, again, if your characters the best and post powerful that ever lived, than how is anyone else going to compete. They can’t fight you, because you’ll always win. Get the picture? If you end up making a character like this, than you’d better be prepared to either be the villain, or you’d better have a major weakness.
[i]Powerplaying vs. Godmodding[i]
Is there really a difference between the two terms? Oh yes there is, a lot more than you might think. One thing that both have in common is their tendency to be used as sort of a “get out of jail free card”, instead of going with played events, because things aren’t going a players way.
Powerplaying is a direct action that affects another character without their permission. It is often done by stating that another character was hit by one of your attacks, but it can be applied to other actions. Powerplaying is severely detrimental to the experience of other Rpers and is against the rules of most role-play forums.
Example: Liz swung her sword, cutting Autumn’s neck and causing her to bleed profusely.
The term can also be used for an equally annoying occurrence; when someone enters your thread, and moves everything along, ending it, before you can even reply again. Confused?
Well here’s an example:
Post 1: Autumn was surrounded, and it looked like things weren’t going well. She might die…she might live…but right now, all she could do was fight…Her hand slowly lowered itself to the hilt of her blade, she wasn’t the best swordsman, but she knew how to swing one at least…couldn’t be that hard, right?
Post 2: Before she could attack, Liz jumped in, pulling out her saber and killing all of the men surrounding Autumn. She then landed in front of her, putting her sword away before leaving mysteriously.
Why is this annoying? Didn’t you see what Liz did? She jumped into the thread, and instead of playing post by post, she decided to eliminate everyone now. She effectively made it impossible for Autumn to do what she wanted to do. What happens if Autumn wanted someone to step in, but wanted the chance to fight herself as well?
An even more extreme version is this:
Example: A: Liz shot her twin pistols, repeatedly at Autumn.
B: Autumn dodges the attack, grabs Liz and throws her out of a stained glass window. Liz then flies at Autumn, who warps behind him and slashes her in the back.
Do NOT write someone else out of the story. If someone decides to reply to your topic, give them a chance to reply. Don’t just get impatient and then say, “OOC: Let’s just say she ran upstairs or something, and continue here.” That’s not fair to the player that you decided to write her out. Be patient. If they don’t reply, then PM them. And if not, then start a new thread with everyone else.
Godmodding is different, but often the terms are confused with each other. Godmodding usually involves someone creating a character who is unstoppable, and has all of the best powers, weapons, etc. They dodge every attack, and do insurmountable amounts of damage to their opponents.
Action is usually taken against godmodders and powerplayers. Being that it is very unfair and is a way cheating (because your unfairly manipulating the other characters and story to fit around yours), it is often to a level where many role-players refuse to play with players who do these things.
Godmodding, however, can be hard to avoid. Some players do not even notice they are doing these things until it is brought to their attention by someone else; often an angry rper. Often they think they are being fair, when in reality they aren’t.
