User blog:AgentHoxton/Quality Time w/ Agent - Regarding the OC Test

So apparently the recent OC test devised is under increasing fire. And being a little bit of an analyst and having gone through said test myself - twice, in fact, just to make sure - I've decided to use this blog post and give my two cents on the whole situation.

Brief Background
If, by any chance, you're new to this whole scenario, read on. Otherwise, skip to So What's The Problem?

Recently, ParaGoomba348 proposed a "Mary-Sue Litmus Test". Basically, it's a test revolving around questions based on the character and what they can do. It's an online test that, when done efficiently, shouldn't take much longer than 5 or 10 minutes.

It's there as a gauge as to how well the character is written and handled. When used correctly, it's used as a guidance as to whether or not a character should be toned up or toned down. Certain strengths should be counteracted with certain weaknesses and so on - and of course, it's up for you to decide. Something to keep the character believable yet still as powerful as you wish them to be.

This is, of course, based on the assumption your character is part of your own piece of fiction, as opposed to something like a fan character of a pre-existing series. That's a whole different turf completely.

So What's The Problem?
There seems to be many problems, from what I can gather from certain users (no namecalling because that's not really what I do). Some say that the test Para linked is unfair (depends on your preferred style, though there are reasonable alternatives to the one he gives). It also gives an unfair judgement on OC performance (debatable, personally. That's just me though). Also, it seems to create a worry on certain OCs going. It depends on whether or not they wish to tweak the OC in any way to stand a better chance of keeping within the quota while still wishing to have them as strong as they intended them to be.

Where people stand when it comes to this situation depends on the OC in question and what exactly they scored on the test. It's subjective of course. With Eden (my OC, for sake of example) on 26, I can't really make any sort of judgement on what it is like to be lost in the Mary-Sue sort of territory (as that was what it was referred to as).

Where I Stand
To me, it's very clear what Para is trying to accomplish by putting these sorts of tests in place - to make sure that this wiki is not a dumping ground for ludicrously overpowered characters with no weaknesses whatsoever to them that will win every single battle they appear in. It is also, however, very clear that this process is not fully fleshed out yet, and it shows. But this is a work-in-progress thing, as far as my knowledge goes. Nothing is finalized or set in stone, it's still in development and being worked on.

With the time for development for this rule (if you could call it that), I'm positive Para can flesh it out to try and keep it firm but fair. I really do hope that the people that have OCs on this wiki (such as myself) that have experienced the test can at least debate the topic without throwing anything harsh or uncalled for towards Para, because he is not the one at fault in this scenario. No-one is right or wrong at the minute, and we'll have to wait on further confirmation before we can throw accusations around.

(Seriously though, guys, don't crap on Para for this. I understand and respect what he's trying to accomplish by doing this, though I do agree that it needs improvement.)