Quoting a QOTD: Big Damn Heroes and Mary Sues

“I love Ree, I love her work in building the world of GW2, I love a number of the other characters I’ve come across, I just don’t love me.  I’m too perfect, too good.  To all-star hot-shot knows-it-all.  Sure everyone wants to be that, but here’s the exciting part; we’re not!!  And it’s in trying to be better where our stories become interesting, not in being super-duper off the bat.  In RP, we call such characters ‘Mary Sues.’”
~ TL;DR

This issue is something that a lot of people seem to be interested in. I myself have bloviated at length on the subject. Whether the sentiments reflected in Syp's comments section are in line with the majority of MMO players is a mystery; but many—if not most—games have taken the opposite tack, making the player character the Big Damn Hero of the game world.

Needless to say, this topic is something near and dear to me. In GW2, I mostly ignore the characterization of my characters in the story cut-scenes. The game is fun, and the world has a rich history, but is rather light on the individual storytelling, from what I have seen. Being the "light reading" game in my current rotation, I am not too concerned about the lack of depth in this regard. Not every game story has to be War and Peace or Lord of the Rings. Much of the time it's fine to have a little fun with The Princess Bride or Stardust.