Mary Sues & God Modding. How would you handle it?

[hex]

I was reading this thread in RPG'd about Mary Sues, God Modding, Barbie Doll Syndrome, How to handle them? and though it would be an interesting topic to discuss here as well.

Hypothetically, if you were administrator or staff member of a board where you would encounter a Mary Sue/Gary Stu character or someone who was god modding, how would you handle it?

What if you were a role player and they entered your thread? What would you do?

What if the player got angry at your "accusations"? What would you do as a player? What would you do as a staff member?

[seiyaru]

For myself I can answer this easily haha.

If I was admin how would I handle a God modder? I would try to show them how it's god mod and explain how to alter their post a bit. No reason to rage at them if they don't understand their mistake right? Now if they do it with intention and argue that it's not, then things take a different turn.

If I found a Mary/Gary Sue, well I just tell them. People shouldn't be offended, and it helps give them a more interesting character in the end. It's all for their benefit.

When a god modder, enters my thread? I make sure they don't god mod, and simply outwit god modding and win. If that isn't possible well its easy to resort it with an admin / mod.

If they got angry? Let them lash and yell, it only hurts them more. As a player or admin i try to talk it out

[{ PASCALINE }]

This is a good topic, Hex! And something that I'm glad you brought up.

I've been the admin of a few sites, most of which were handed down to me. If we saw a an application with a character that seemed 'Sue' or 'Stuish', I had no problem quelling it from the get-go. If, somehow, that person passed the application process then most of the staff ended up ignoring that person OR hindering that person's abilities on the site due to 'bad writing'. We could get away with the former because, sadly, back then RPGs were incredibly the elitist where writing talent and character development meant you were a respectable member of the RPing community and deserved benefits. I'm not saying this was right, or that I am now proud of what I did back then, but that was how it was done on the sites I was on.

Last year I had a site where a girl joined a character that seemed ok. The player was pretty nice too. However, the moment she posted, the first few opening lines were how every character wanted to sleep with hers or found hers very attractive. And I made one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made as a RPer, and as an admin: I did nothing. I let her RP, because I thought "well... I want her to be happy on this site, if this makes her happy then I guess it's ok." But it bothered me to no end and it got to the point where anything and everything she did with her character made me feel uncomfortable. i also replied to one of her posts, to save other players the hassle of having to RP with her. The site ended, and is pending on a reopening, but I never did tell that player why it's considered "cheap" writing to say how attractive your character is.

But I've learned my lesson, and this is what I've retained from those past experiences: It is NOT ok to ignore someone who plays a mary sue/gary stu. You end up shunning them from the site, and you know what? That's not fair at all. They deserve to be told their mistakes so they can better themselves as a player and a writer.

When you call a sue/stu player on their crap, you need to always be honest but polite! Don't go "hey, you really suck and stop saying your character is this and that." You need to express that what they're doing is wrong, tell them why it's considered wrong, and show them examples of how they can be a better player and make their character less of a sue/stu. And you should offer to help them, or find someone who will. Usually the players of a mary sue/gary stu are inexperienced, and they need the character development practice.

Also, guys, I want you all to take what I'm about to say to heart: if you see someone role playing in a way that they shouldn't, you tell me me. Or you tell Aries, or Hamlet, or Edward, or Pocket. You tell whoever you can reach the fastest. You use the report user button in the offending player's mini profile and you let us know. Because, while we'd appreciate anyone willing to help out and instruct a player not following the rules (it's against the rules to play a Sue/Stu), we don't want you to be the one who gets yelled at for trying to help. As the admin, I would rather get bitched out by a player who can't follow the rules then find out a player who can't follow the rules bitched out a player who can. I don't know about other sites, but on THE BLUE you need to tell the staff when someone is playing in a way that's unsavory. We'll handle it, and even in the worst case scenerio (i.e., the player quits, or spams the board with goatse, whatever) we will still thank you at the end of the day.

[hex]

Nov 6, 2010 13:51:39 GMT -5 @seiyaru said:

If they got angry? Let them lash and yell, it only hurts them more. As a player or admin i try to talk it out

Yep, I would probably handle the situation the same way. It's only for their benefit that they are being called out on it. How else will you get better if you don't see the flaws?

Nov 6, 2010 14:00:10 GMT -5 { PASCALINE } said:

But I've learned my lesson, and this is what I've retained from those past experiences: It is NOT ok to ignore someone who plays a mary sue/gary stu. You end up shunning them from the site, and you know what? That's not fair at all. They deserve to be told their mistakes so they can better themselves as a player and a writer.

I totally agree with this. Even if a lot of times you could be as nice about it as possible, a lot of people just get mad if you bring it up to them. Of course no one wants to be told that their character is MS or GS. I understand that, but if more than one people are saying that the character is MS or GS then something has to be done. That is, if your staff of course.

As a player I wouldn't know what to do. Honestly, I haven't really met these type of characters before. I've heard stories, but never actually seen one.

Like Pasc mentioned, here in The Blue your meant to bring it up to a staff member. But if it were anywhere else, would you help the player or would you ignore them?

[{ PASCALINE }]

I would help them. XD I think I said that already but I wanted to be clear.