(07-04-2016, 04:41 PM)Morningstar1337 Wrote: TBH, when you think about it, the Warrior of Light is already bordering Mary Sue territory anyway.
I'm going off-topic here, so spoiler tags so I don't take up a huge chunk of scrollspace, but here's what I've got to say.
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Off-topicThis is exactly the reason why I only RP Aghurlal as the Warrior of Light with my one close friend. His main roleplay universe is an alternative universe where he swerved working for the Scions after defeating Ifrit, and even that is somewhat outstanding in terms of what's reasonable for an RP character to have done.
BUT: Note how I still have a space, albiet a private one, where I roleplay him as the Warrior of Light? Even though, versus Balmung's RP atmosphere, it would make him a "special snowflake"? That's because it's fun. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that - as long as you're not treading on other people's toes while you're doing it.
Like... if "being a Mary Sue/special snowflake" wasn't a concern, I'd be like, knock yourself out, do what you find fun. I find the terms to be wonderfully overused, and the concepts themselves to be somewhat restricting. There is a time and a place for "Mary Sue"/"special snowflake" RP! Which means that it's possible to do it, and enjoy it, and have everyone else around you join in and enjoy it as well. Generally this means private RP's with existing friends who have agreed to it, and have characters of similar power level to yours.
Because the problem with "Mary Sue" isn't that you're playing a powerful or prestigious character. It's that you're playing a character who is more powerful and more prestigious than almost everyone else you're going to encounter, both in-game and on the forums. It means it gets difficult for other people to get a word in edgeways, when RP is supposed to be a collaborative endeavour. If your goal is to be The Most Special And Good out of everyone you're roleplaying with, then yeah, that's a problem. But that's not the vibe I get.
In a non-interactive story, the problem becomes more apparent if the character is unrelatable. You can be powerful and prominent in a solo story and still have struggles that people can relate to, weaknesses that make you seem mortal, and give-and-take with other characters that makes it seem like the story isn't just an ego-trip for the protagonist.
A few months ago, I wrote a long-ass rant about the concept of "Mary Sue", and why I think it's outgrown itself as a measure of whether a story/roleplay is "bad" or not. You can read it if you're interested.
Anyway. The only reason I keep giving advice about how to keep your character "balanced" is because you keep bringing up "mary sue" and "special snowflake" as key words that you want to avoid coming across as. And honestly... if you're concerned about coming across as those things... you need to drop "is the Warrior of Light" from your character concept. It necessarily means that you're the protagonist; and protagonists are necessarily "Mary Sues", because the reason they are the protagonist is because they are more powerful or more prominent in the story than everyone else.
BUT. That's not my actual advice to you.
My advice is: stop worrying about whether you're coming across so much as a Mary Sue or not. Because you seem to enjoy stories where the character is a powerful protagonist, I think worrying about straying into Mary Sue territory is only going to hamper your enjoyment - and this is a hobby that's supposed to be fun!
Here are the things I want to know from you:
Knowing these things will help you ask questions more tailored to what you actually want to do, because right now it's not particularly clear - and help us answer your questions with more finesse, because I think up until now we've mostly been assuming you're talking about public RP either on the forums or in-game, where it's important to maintain a character power level consistent with the characters around you.
BUT: Note how I still have a space, albiet a private one, where I roleplay him as the Warrior of Light? Even though, versus Balmung's RP atmosphere, it would make him a "special snowflake"? That's because it's fun. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that - as long as you're not treading on other people's toes while you're doing it.
Like... if "being a Mary Sue/special snowflake" wasn't a concern, I'd be like, knock yourself out, do what you find fun. I find the terms to be wonderfully overused, and the concepts themselves to be somewhat restricting. There is a time and a place for "Mary Sue"/"special snowflake" RP! Which means that it's possible to do it, and enjoy it, and have everyone else around you join in and enjoy it as well. Generally this means private RP's with existing friends who have agreed to it, and have characters of similar power level to yours.
Because the problem with "Mary Sue" isn't that you're playing a powerful or prestigious character. It's that you're playing a character who is more powerful and more prestigious than almost everyone else you're going to encounter, both in-game and on the forums. It means it gets difficult for other people to get a word in edgeways, when RP is supposed to be a collaborative endeavour. If your goal is to be The Most Special And Good out of everyone you're roleplaying with, then yeah, that's a problem. But that's not the vibe I get.
In a non-interactive story, the problem becomes more apparent if the character is unrelatable. You can be powerful and prominent in a solo story and still have struggles that people can relate to, weaknesses that make you seem mortal, and give-and-take with other characters that makes it seem like the story isn't just an ego-trip for the protagonist.
A few months ago, I wrote a long-ass rant about the concept of "Mary Sue", and why I think it's outgrown itself as a measure of whether a story/roleplay is "bad" or not. You can read it if you're interested.
Anyway. The only reason I keep giving advice about how to keep your character "balanced" is because you keep bringing up "mary sue" and "special snowflake" as key words that you want to avoid coming across as. And honestly... if you're concerned about coming across as those things... you need to drop "is the Warrior of Light" from your character concept. It necessarily means that you're the protagonist; and protagonists are necessarily "Mary Sues", because the reason they are the protagonist is because they are more powerful or more prominent in the story than everyone else.
BUT. That's not my actual advice to you.
My advice is: stop worrying about whether you're coming across so much as a Mary Sue or not. Because you seem to enjoy stories where the character is a powerful protagonist, I think worrying about straying into Mary Sue territory is only going to hamper your enjoyment - and this is a hobby that's supposed to be fun!
Here are the things I want to know from you:
- What do you want to do? Do you want to write solo stories? Do you want to do forum RP? Do you just want to have a private backstory in mind for your character while you play the game, that you don't share with anyone? Something else?
- Who do you want to do it for? Yourself? The RPC community? Another community? Someone else?
- What do you want in return? Reader participation? Praise? Ao3 kudos? Something else?
Knowing these things will help you ask questions more tailored to what you actually want to do, because right now it's not particularly clear - and help us answer your questions with more finesse, because I think up until now we've mostly been assuming you're talking about public RP either on the forums or in-game, where it's important to maintain a character power level consistent with the characters around you.
![[Image: tUzrT.png]](https://puu.sh/tUzrT.png)
