We all want a good character for our role plays. There is no shame in that. However, there's a fine line between a good character, and a bad character.

So what makes a bad character?
Well, it could be a lot of things, and its hard to be specific because bad characters come in a variety of forms. But this thread is made to talk about one specific kind of 'bad character', which is something all role players should be aware about.
These characters are identified as Mary Sue, or rarely Gray/Larry/Marty Stu if the character is male.

What is a Mary Sue?
To put it in basic terms, a Mary Sue character is a perfect character. And when I say perfect, I literally mean perfect. She has no flaws, has uncommon or even inhuman hair and/or eye color, and exceptional beauty. Mary Sue characters can be seen as sort of God like characters (this does not mean God modding, though they could be prone to do so).
Wikipedia
A Mary Sue (sometimes just Sue), in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the author or reader. Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters described as "Mary Sues" is that they are too ostentatious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favor the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful the "Mary Sue" character is on his or her audience, sometimes leading the audience to dislike or even resent the character fairly quickly; such a character could be described as an "author's pet".

Although the traits of a "Mary Sue" are not necessarily gender-specific, the term itself is used exclusively for females. The term must be modified to refer to male characters; they are often dubbed "Gary Stu", "Larry Stu", "Marty Stu", or similar names. While the label "Mary Sue" itself originates from a parody of this type of character, most characters labeled "Mary Sues" by readers are not intended by authors as such.

While the term is generally limited to fan-created characters, and its most common usage today occurs within the fan fiction community or in reference to fan fiction, original characters in role-playing games or literary canon are also sometimes criticized as being "Mary Sues" or "canon Sues," if they dominate the spotlight or are too unrealistic or unlikely in other ways.


What's bad about a Mary Sue?
Mary Sue is generally an annoying all around annoying character. Because of their perfection, its frustrating and hard to deal with them, because its not humanly possible to be perfect. Humans will never be perfect, and so to deal with something that is perfect (or at least very close to being) is extremely hard to deal with, and generally hated by everyone.

How can you tell if a character is a Mary Sue?
Sometimes, Mary Sue characters are obvious. Others, are not. If you feel there may be a Mary Sue character, whether it be your own or someone else's, I suggest you put the character under the Mary Sue test. While it is a lengthy test, it will help you determine if the character is a Mary Sue, and if so, how badly. If at all possible, put your character under all parts of the test, and when answering questions be sure to keep in mind what kind of story you're in. If its natural for characters to have animal body parts or powers, take this into consideration when answering the questions.
If the test provided does not satisfy you, here's a Google search list for other Mary Sue tests.

What should I do with a Mary Sue?
If you have a Mary Sue on your hands, the only thing you can do is to change the character. If change is absolutely impossible, then the character must go.
If you are having problems with a Mary Sue character, and cannot resolve the problems on your own, please contact Randomly Gone Insane or Zahzi for assistance.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, please post them here.