Mary Sue litmus test
peasant007 ran the Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test on her character Zane Devereaux, and was alarmed to see that he came up as a 91. I think the test is flawed and the score was therefore artificially high, but just for larfs, I ran it on my character Cecil Goodytwoshoes.
Cecil scored a 21. EDIT: Whoops! I forgot the De-Sueifiers! 20.
I wasn't all THAT surprised, but I thought I'd add a few comments, because some of this applies to Sims Stories in general.
1. On character's names:
No, Cecil's name is not based on a gemstone, a name I wish I had, or that I'd like to give my children, etc. But Sims Legacies, by their very nature, have to come up with lots and lots of names. Alphabet Legacies even have rules about what letters the names can use. So most Legacies at some point resort to naming schemes.
I began by naming my Sim kids after characters in Al Capp's comic strip Lil Abner. Made sense, I thought, because Al Capp invented Sadie Hawkins Day, when when Marryin' Sam fires off the gun, the fear-crazed bachelors start a-runnin' and when he fires the gun the second time, the marriage-crazed wimmen starts a-runnin' after 'em, and anyone they catches (*gulp*) has to marry 'em! My foundress was marriage and baby crazed and the ladies were going to be in charge, so I thought it would work. It worked for Generation Two (Mortimer, Abner, Sam, Abijah, Hawkins, Hopeful, and Daisie Mae) and Generation Three (Joe, Tiny, and Earthquake) and then I started to run out. Moonbeam is a Capp name, and so are Delightful and Wolf Gal; Sunny just went in as a parallel to Moonbeam.
After that, I chained names from the mother or the father. I married in Publius Scipio and as a Roman Fortune Sim, I thought their eldest should sound Latin and as Sunny's daughter might suggest Dawn--hence, Aurora. Since Aurora is also a ballet character, I named her younger sister Giselle.
The next generation was chained off dancers--thirties tap dancers, this time: Ginger (Rogers), Ruby (Keeler), Vilma (Ebsen).
So generation Six was going to chain off Ruby and have a lot of gemstone names. But when I got a boy, I had to think of a boy's name that was connected to gemstones and came up with Cecil (Rhodes), the founder of the De Beers diamond cartel.
It's not really all that more unusual than naming Legacy kids after Disney villains or scientists or favorite sci-fi writer. I think Legacy writers should get a bit of leeway in the names department.
4 & 5: "Does your character look the way you wish you could look/ are you jealous of your character's good looks?"
I am envious of his slimness and his ability to look nice in pants. But he does work out, and those of you who have him know he jogs by frequently.
8. "Poetic and creative terms to describe the character"--well, on one occasion, I've used an epigram from Paradise Lost which drew a connection between Cecil and Satan. And he has a distinctive mode of speech, but no.
9-17: Character's appearance. Cecil has brown hair and brown eyes. These are widely considered the most boring "blah" genetics in Sim Land, because they pass along no recessive genetics. (As it happened, he had an unexpressed gene for black hair and grey eyes). His hairstyle is the standard Maxis game hair he grew up in as a child. Cecil inherited his Grandpa Spencer Fitzhugh's brown eyes and most of his father Gaius Caesar's facial features. The result is a fairly handsome Sim with good, but not stellar, genetics. If only he were a redhead, eh?
Appearance is tricky in Sims--they are inherited. Players pick pretty or ugly potential parents, but they don't create pretty from scratch. So for Legacy writing and playing, I'd say that the over-exaggerated appearance point here applies to using only the "pretty" (Face One or Two) sims to breed by, referring frequently to how gorgeous your Sim is, and using so much pretty CC that the Sim is virtually unrecognizable: bonus points for making over toddlers with lipstick and eyeshadow.
Possibly the only element of Cecil's appearance that applies here is "clothing that you deliberately picked from your own wardrobe" or "clothing you wish you could get away with in public"--yes, but you're talking to a woman who has three or four Victorian ball gowns and who loves spatterdashes, Cecil or no Cecil.
35: "Does your character have AntiSocial Personality Disorder?" I'd say more that he's a narcissist. He's grandiose, self-important, and not so much unable as unwilling to form relationships with others. The few he does have: his relationship with his daughter is dependent, with Max, it's troubled, and Lytton is so grateful to Cecil for having taken care of him and so determined to keep things up and to stay involved that Lytton is the closest thing to a friend Cecil has. Have I portrayed this as "aw, poor Cecil, pity his narcissism?" I don't THINK I have.
41. Many Legacy Sim characters are fabulously wealthy, or live in beautiful homes with no money worries. That's the game itself, I think. Even playing with no cheats, a family will acquire wealth over several generations. My Legacy family is now worth about 2.5 million Simoleans. Spares often, though not always, benefit from the Bank of Motherlode. Most live in houses their creators could never afford. So again, if many of your Legacy characters are rich or well off, I don't think this applies to you. Cecil's fabulous wealth has been explained. Admittedly it strains credibility, but there IS an explanation.
43: "Does your character share your favorite types of movies, music, clothes, etc?" Sort of. I don't have an overwhelming passion for organ music especially. I like 1920s and 1930s music and movies best of all, and that winds its way into the plots overall. I'm also fond of Victorian novels, especially Dickens and Wilkie Collins. So those influence my writing of Cecil.
47. "Are other characters extremely impressed by your character's skills and/or virtues? (Does not count if they are extremely impressed due to their own inexperience)." Insofar as Cecil is a monster of virtue? Yes. He seems to aim for an extreme standard of perfection. If he fails at something, he refuses to acknowledge or admit it. Heck, even I'm impressed by those disciplined people who never run late, are never sloppy, and always seem to have their ducks in a row.
49b: "Does your character play a musical instrument exceptionally well?" Since Cecil generally plays the organ only when alone, I don't know if this counts. I don't think I've ever mentioned it--I suppose I've assumed that he plays very well, since he is a perfectionist and insists that he excel in everything he does. But it's not as though he puts on concerts where the audience whispers in hushed tones: "surely I have not heard such playing since Maestro Simolini died!"
61, 62, etc.: Cecil does aim for perfection. However, he hasn't succeeded in everything he does. Far from it. His cold-blooded long range plans have blown up several times, usually because some part of it relied on other people whom he has misjudged badly. He's not good at reading other people and he's woefully incapable of self-analysis.
71. "Is your character a noble, closely related to a noble, or at least a rough equivalent?" Yes, because my Legacy marries in Sims from other Legacies, and Cecil's father was Gaius Caesar, aka Caligula. Cecil is the only one who is impressed by this, as far as I can tell. He has brooded on his ineligibility to be Emperor OR the Heir, but this has fueled his determination to Achieve his own.
72, 73: Extremely popular, undeservingly despised. . . neither. Cecil doesn't interact with many people at all, seemingly by choice.
77: "The character and his family. . . did he raise him/herself?" Sort of. His father was gaga and his mother was preoccupied taking care of him. Therefore, Cecil was a bit neglected. Girls are automatically "more important," so there is that; he was mostly responsible for taking care of the youngest child, Lytton. But it is not as though his mother and grandfather didn't love him, or that he didn't have food, clothing, toys, a good education, and most importantly, cats. Everyone in the family has been somewhat affected by Gaius' problems, but Cecil's response has been extreme.
80. "Has your character lost. . .a child?" Yes, as his adult daughter is so extremely mentally ill that she is, in a sense, "lost" to him. Here, I think, Cecil does approach Marty Stu tragic, pathetic O Woe status.
92: "If people don't like your character, do you think it's just because they don't 'get' him or her?" Yes, but I also think some of the people who really LIKE Cecil don't 'get' him either. Let's just say he provokes extreme reactions in readers, which is fun.
De-Sueifiers:
1. Do you ever poke fun at your character's faults/weaknesses and/or use them as plot devices? Yes.
2. Maybe you can argue that he has been selfishly or pointlessly cruel.
Stuff that's not even on the test: Cecil has something in common with characters like Sherlock Holmes. He's been described as cold and asexual to the point that SOME of my readers have found him very attractive. Inaccessible can be romantic, I guess: It's only natural to want to be The One who warms up the Ice Prince's frozen heart and other bits. I didn't set out to make Cecil the Reluctant Sex God. (Some of my readers find him repellent, for the same reason.) In a way, Cecil's a funhouse mirror exaggeration of my legacy--SC is very restrictive on romantic and sexual behavior, mostly because that is FUN TO WRITE. Asexual reproduction is the far end of the line.
Also, would I date Cecil? I would probably be very impressed with Cecil and very surprised if he asked me anywhere. Knowing him as I do, I would also wonder what he really wanted. Chances are, I would feel extremely uncomfortable and worry about my table manners, and there probably wouldn't be a second date. I did actually date a guy with some Cecil characteristics, and it drove me crazy. No milk containers on the table, eat broccoli, it's good for you, always spoon your soup front to back. did you read the WHOLE paper, or just the comics and Dear Abby? (The "gardez la pointe"--keep the point on the Brie--guy was another guy.) Incidentally, I probably wouldn't date someone like my Simself's husband, Flavius Marius, either. The whole Popularity Sim thing is funny on paper, but in real life I'm a quiet person who doesn't like lots of social functions. I wouldn't pick one of my own Sims, but if I were forced to, it would probably be a character like Lytton or Ulysses (sorry, Doc!) And it would be especially weird to pick Lytton, because he's got a lot of personality traits of mine. Lytton is much more like actual professors than EA professors. And I've actually caught myself doing the finger steepling and the CreepySmile.
But most of the time, my characters in general have vices that match their virtues. Sophia has a lot of energy and is very strong-willed; she's also a bit of a rebel and can get in trouble that way. Is Lytton a quiet, studious, affectionate man who cares deeply about his family, or is he a geeky pushover with an overly idealistic view of human behavior? Is Cecil admirably steadfast or irritatingly stubborn? The behavior is the same, but what you think of it depends on who and where you are.
Cecil scored a 21. EDIT: Whoops! I forgot the De-Sueifiers! 20.
I wasn't all THAT surprised, but I thought I'd add a few comments, because some of this applies to Sims Stories in general.
1. On character's names:
No, Cecil's name is not based on a gemstone, a name I wish I had, or that I'd like to give my children, etc. But Sims Legacies, by their very nature, have to come up with lots and lots of names. Alphabet Legacies even have rules about what letters the names can use. So most Legacies at some point resort to naming schemes.
I began by naming my Sim kids after characters in Al Capp's comic strip Lil Abner. Made sense, I thought, because Al Capp invented Sadie Hawkins Day, when when Marryin' Sam fires off the gun, the fear-crazed bachelors start a-runnin' and when he fires the gun the second time, the marriage-crazed wimmen starts a-runnin' after 'em, and anyone they catches (*gulp*) has to marry 'em! My foundress was marriage and baby crazed and the ladies were going to be in charge, so I thought it would work. It worked for Generation Two (Mortimer, Abner, Sam, Abijah, Hawkins, Hopeful, and Daisie Mae) and Generation Three (Joe, Tiny, and Earthquake) and then I started to run out. Moonbeam is a Capp name, and so are Delightful and Wolf Gal; Sunny just went in as a parallel to Moonbeam.
After that, I chained names from the mother or the father. I married in Publius Scipio and as a Roman Fortune Sim, I thought their eldest should sound Latin and as Sunny's daughter might suggest Dawn--hence, Aurora. Since Aurora is also a ballet character, I named her younger sister Giselle.
The next generation was chained off dancers--thirties tap dancers, this time: Ginger (Rogers), Ruby (Keeler), Vilma (Ebsen).
So generation Six was going to chain off Ruby and have a lot of gemstone names. But when I got a boy, I had to think of a boy's name that was connected to gemstones and came up with Cecil (Rhodes), the founder of the De Beers diamond cartel.
It's not really all that more unusual than naming Legacy kids after Disney villains or scientists or favorite sci-fi writer. I think Legacy writers should get a bit of leeway in the names department.
4 & 5: "Does your character look the way you wish you could look/ are you jealous of your character's good looks?"
I am envious of his slimness and his ability to look nice in pants. But he does work out, and those of you who have him know he jogs by frequently.
8. "Poetic and creative terms to describe the character"--well, on one occasion, I've used an epigram from Paradise Lost which drew a connection between Cecil and Satan. And he has a distinctive mode of speech, but no.
9-17: Character's appearance. Cecil has brown hair and brown eyes. These are widely considered the most boring "blah" genetics in Sim Land, because they pass along no recessive genetics. (As it happened, he had an unexpressed gene for black hair and grey eyes). His hairstyle is the standard Maxis game hair he grew up in as a child. Cecil inherited his Grandpa Spencer Fitzhugh's brown eyes and most of his father Gaius Caesar's facial features. The result is a fairly handsome Sim with good, but not stellar, genetics. If only he were a redhead, eh?
Appearance is tricky in Sims--they are inherited. Players pick pretty or ugly potential parents, but they don't create pretty from scratch. So for Legacy writing and playing, I'd say that the over-exaggerated appearance point here applies to using only the "pretty" (Face One or Two) sims to breed by, referring frequently to how gorgeous your Sim is, and using so much pretty CC that the Sim is virtually unrecognizable: bonus points for making over toddlers with lipstick and eyeshadow.
Possibly the only element of Cecil's appearance that applies here is "clothing that you deliberately picked from your own wardrobe" or "clothing you wish you could get away with in public"--yes, but you're talking to a woman who has three or four Victorian ball gowns and who loves spatterdashes, Cecil or no Cecil.
35: "Does your character have AntiSocial Personality Disorder?" I'd say more that he's a narcissist. He's grandiose, self-important, and not so much unable as unwilling to form relationships with others. The few he does have: his relationship with his daughter is dependent, with Max, it's troubled, and Lytton is so grateful to Cecil for having taken care of him and so determined to keep things up and to stay involved that Lytton is the closest thing to a friend Cecil has. Have I portrayed this as "aw, poor Cecil, pity his narcissism?" I don't THINK I have.
41. Many Legacy Sim characters are fabulously wealthy, or live in beautiful homes with no money worries. That's the game itself, I think. Even playing with no cheats, a family will acquire wealth over several generations. My Legacy family is now worth about 2.5 million Simoleans. Spares often, though not always, benefit from the Bank of Motherlode. Most live in houses their creators could never afford. So again, if many of your Legacy characters are rich or well off, I don't think this applies to you. Cecil's fabulous wealth has been explained. Admittedly it strains credibility, but there IS an explanation.
43: "Does your character share your favorite types of movies, music, clothes, etc?" Sort of. I don't have an overwhelming passion for organ music especially. I like 1920s and 1930s music and movies best of all, and that winds its way into the plots overall. I'm also fond of Victorian novels, especially Dickens and Wilkie Collins. So those influence my writing of Cecil.
47. "Are other characters extremely impressed by your character's skills and/or virtues? (Does not count if they are extremely impressed due to their own inexperience)." Insofar as Cecil is a monster of virtue? Yes. He seems to aim for an extreme standard of perfection. If he fails at something, he refuses to acknowledge or admit it. Heck, even I'm impressed by those disciplined people who never run late, are never sloppy, and always seem to have their ducks in a row.
49b: "Does your character play a musical instrument exceptionally well?" Since Cecil generally plays the organ only when alone, I don't know if this counts. I don't think I've ever mentioned it--I suppose I've assumed that he plays very well, since he is a perfectionist and insists that he excel in everything he does. But it's not as though he puts on concerts where the audience whispers in hushed tones: "surely I have not heard such playing since Maestro Simolini died!"
61, 62, etc.: Cecil does aim for perfection. However, he hasn't succeeded in everything he does. Far from it. His cold-blooded long range plans have blown up several times, usually because some part of it relied on other people whom he has misjudged badly. He's not good at reading other people and he's woefully incapable of self-analysis.
71. "Is your character a noble, closely related to a noble, or at least a rough equivalent?" Yes, because my Legacy marries in Sims from other Legacies, and Cecil's father was Gaius Caesar, aka Caligula. Cecil is the only one who is impressed by this, as far as I can tell. He has brooded on his ineligibility to be Emperor OR the Heir, but this has fueled his determination to Achieve his own.
72, 73: Extremely popular, undeservingly despised. . . neither. Cecil doesn't interact with many people at all, seemingly by choice.
77: "The character and his family. . . did he raise him/herself?" Sort of. His father was gaga and his mother was preoccupied taking care of him. Therefore, Cecil was a bit neglected. Girls are automatically "more important," so there is that; he was mostly responsible for taking care of the youngest child, Lytton. But it is not as though his mother and grandfather didn't love him, or that he didn't have food, clothing, toys, a good education, and most importantly, cats. Everyone in the family has been somewhat affected by Gaius' problems, but Cecil's response has been extreme.
80. "Has your character lost. . .a child?" Yes, as his adult daughter is so extremely mentally ill that she is, in a sense, "lost" to him. Here, I think, Cecil does approach Marty Stu tragic, pathetic O Woe status.
92: "If people don't like your character, do you think it's just because they don't 'get' him or her?" Yes, but I also think some of the people who really LIKE Cecil don't 'get' him either. Let's just say he provokes extreme reactions in readers, which is fun.
De-Sueifiers:
1. Do you ever poke fun at your character's faults/weaknesses and/or use them as plot devices? Yes.
2. Maybe you can argue that he has been selfishly or pointlessly cruel.
Stuff that's not even on the test: Cecil has something in common with characters like Sherlock Holmes. He's been described as cold and asexual to the point that SOME of my readers have found him very attractive. Inaccessible can be romantic, I guess: It's only natural to want to be The One who warms up the Ice Prince's frozen heart and other bits. I didn't set out to make Cecil the Reluctant Sex God. (Some of my readers find him repellent, for the same reason.) In a way, Cecil's a funhouse mirror exaggeration of my legacy--SC is very restrictive on romantic and sexual behavior, mostly because that is FUN TO WRITE. Asexual reproduction is the far end of the line.
Also, would I date Cecil? I would probably be very impressed with Cecil and very surprised if he asked me anywhere. Knowing him as I do, I would also wonder what he really wanted. Chances are, I would feel extremely uncomfortable and worry about my table manners, and there probably wouldn't be a second date. I did actually date a guy with some Cecil characteristics, and it drove me crazy. No milk containers on the table, eat broccoli, it's good for you, always spoon your soup front to back. did you read the WHOLE paper, or just the comics and Dear Abby? (The "gardez la pointe"--keep the point on the Brie--guy was another guy.) Incidentally, I probably wouldn't date someone like my Simself's husband, Flavius Marius, either. The whole Popularity Sim thing is funny on paper, but in real life I'm a quiet person who doesn't like lots of social functions. I wouldn't pick one of my own Sims, but if I were forced to, it would probably be a character like Lytton or Ulysses (sorry, Doc!) And it would be especially weird to pick Lytton, because he's got a lot of personality traits of mine. Lytton is much more like actual professors than EA professors. And I've actually caught myself doing the finger steepling and the CreepySmile.
But most of the time, my characters in general have vices that match their virtues. Sophia has a lot of energy and is very strong-willed; she's also a bit of a rebel and can get in trouble that way. Is Lytton a quiet, studious, affectionate man who cares deeply about his family, or is he a geeky pushover with an overly idealistic view of human behavior? Is Cecil admirably steadfast or irritatingly stubborn? The behavior is the same, but what you think of it depends on who and where you are.