Test your character!

[Cimri Mayensis]

Cimri is a 16. I used a rough impression of my looks to create the basic format of her look because the short hairstyle suits her personality.

Direidi is a 15. Yay for not even knowing how to fight.

[Saku]

Damn - Saku gets 24.

Then again, she is the stereotypical mad mass murderer. >,< Silly me. I think good looks added points too.

[Derin Edala]

Wow. 10. Derin is boring.

I thought her backstory alone would push her pretty close to Sue territory, but I guess being a human of average intelligence, no magical power and no exceptional abilities or social skills mitigated it quite a bit...

Not sure how much I trust this test, though... I ran through a couple of my story characters; a chubby, unexceptional teenage girl named Sarah who gets pulled into a war that has nothing to do with her and spends the next year wondering if she's going mad and generally trying to stay out of the way, and a sexy superpowered demon rebel leader named Lyara who single-handedly (unless you count Sarah's very reluctant assistance, which mostly consists of trying not to be stabbed or taken hostage) fights a group of superpowered demon enslavers and generally kicks butt.

Sarah got a 26 -- definite Sue-like tendencies. Lyara got 6.

Something is very wrong there.

[Frug]

Yes! I agree with you! Once again affirming my dislike of this test.

[Niabi]

I've ran several oh my characters through this test and scored everything from a -6 to 54, I wouldn't trust the test and just because your character may or may not pass means nothing as far as how good of a character you have.

[Ischia]

Ischia got a 13.

Pretty much what I was expecting. She's very unremarkable - just a kid with dead parents who took to a life of crime as a means of taking care of herself, happens to have amber eyes, speaks two languages, and keeps her daddy's knife in her boot. *shrug*

[Frug]

Oh noes, you necroed this test...

[Ischia]

Ha ha ha... I thought it was hilarious! I was reminded of far too many fanfic lemons I've had the distinct displeasure of reading. ^_^

[Frug]

I hate this test because... well of all the reasons I say I hate it earlier in this thread. It's not unbiased, it just has a hatred for certain races. What if your setting is about werewolves. You can't have a werewolf because it's cliche? That's stupid.
It also doesn't give enough weight on all the crazy quirks and shit you can do to your stereotyped character to make him/her totally weird and different.

[Kamar Deythal]

*points out that he retook the test with Kamar, and STILL got 13*

Except I didn't account for him becoming a battlemage, cause I'm not sure how that affects him...

[Pagusel]

The thing about the test that bothers me most is just the one or two questions they ask you that are completely not based on the character, and instead like "Do you think or your characters as friends or as tools?" which just lay bare the test author's judgment, because what does it matter how a writer relates to her characters?

At least the rest of the questions are objective, if not in determination, then at least in nature. "Does your character have a weapon that was passed down" is at least an easy question, not really open to interpretation, even if we don't agree it has anything to do with Mary Sue-ing it up. It's the ones that are like "Would you want to be friends with your character?" or especially the one about thinking of our characters as tools, that make me wanna blow off the test.

[Daq Bekkar]

New Daq scored way better on it, but maybe it's because I first got all jealous of his physique, skills, and abilities. Then I stopped thinking of him as a tool and started considering him a friend and/or (secret) lover.

Yeah, those definitely added some points to his Mary Sue score.

[Frug]

Some day soon, while I'm bored at work, I will write up a proper, more objective test that will apply better to this setting (and hopefully, by extension, better to most settings).

[Jasmina Apsara]

I've done this test for various characters, but I've never found it particularly useful. The results seem pretty skewed.

The main issue I have with it, is that while it's done a pretty good job of identifying characteristics present in many Mary Sue characters in existing works, it doesn't really subject those characteristics to any kind of analysis. Every "factor" is worth one point, and it doesn't take into consideration 1.) the difference between something crucial to the character and something that's just background, and 2.) how creatively, organically, or logically the point is implemented. The test is a list, with no sense of priority concerning the things it lists.

Three examples of why I find it not-so-useful, using Jasmina as the test taker:

Jasmina's surname, Apsara, does have some significance to me as the writer, though the reader likely won't notice it unless he or she is a folklore geek. (It's from Indian folktales.) However, the main reason for her name is that I had to call her something, and I didn't want her to be associated with any real-life Roma group because I wanted to be able to play freely with the Traveler culture of her clan. She would not, though, be an appreciably different character if her name was Jasmina Jones or Jasmina Chang or Jasmina Rodriguez. The test seems to assume that non-Sue writers choose character names basically at random, which I find unlikely; I would guess that most names have some significance. But still, one point.

Any music or performing profession will rack up points on this test, even if it's the character's only significant skill. Jasmina could have twenty other unrelated skills without any Mary Sue points, but because the creator chose this particular skill set as the kiss of death, it adds to her tally. Even though she's an ordinary human with a talent that exists in the real world and is not even particularly uncommon. One point (and then some.)

Jasmina can be assumed to be attractive. I don't harp on it, because everyone's taste is different, but yes, she would generally be considered a beautiful young woman. However, she is also in a profession where whether she starves or survives depends on whether people want to look at her. The fact she is pretty is literally integral to her purpose in the story and an understanding of her character. The test does not distinguish between this and a random brawler who happens to be unusually attractive just because, with no bearing on the plot aside from the character getting more attention. One point.

Thus Jasmina has three points of equal value in this sample, with no recognized difference between something minor and a key plot point. I think the test would be a lot more useful if it didn't just list characteristics, but allowed you to rank their priority. I don't think this test can tell you much, because there's no way to indicate how important a certain detail is to the story.

So yeah... not a huge fan of the test if you're looking to it as a teaching tool for writing. It's fun to play around with, but I'm skeptical about whether you can analyze your character in more depth than you could without it. I think a better "test" is to just apply a little critical thinking.

[Anja]

I had only heard of the term Mary-Sue a short time before finding this test, and while I didn't agree with much of what the test said, it inspired me to think over my characters from a new angle, which is always a good thing. That being said, we eagerly await your new and improved Sue test, Phil!