The other kind of min-maxing

[Gametime]

Now THAT is a good point. What is a hero?

Superman can do everything without breaking a sweat. Is he a hero?

Not really, because he can do everything without breaking a sweat, with no real risk to himself. To be a hero in our culture, you have to overcome some kind of internal adversity or inerrant flaw. Being perfect and saving the world doesn't make one great. Being imperfect and still saving the world; that's a hero.

Uh, Superman regularly faces foes capable of killing him (and the known universe). A "Superman" character should face Superman-level enemies. No one's arguing your DM should pull punches when you start optimizing; in fact, I think most of us would agree that the DM and player levels of optimization should be roughly equal.

Taking it back to the game slightly, what does the rest of Superman's superhero team feel about him. Are they in constant awe? Is he still one of the lads? Or do they feel superfluous. Ultimately, I don't in many ways see him as a character (from a story viewpoint) who would ever work well in a team, simply because his perfection makes it so hard for others to be on an equal footing. And let's face it: Anything that comes close to seriously threatening Superman (that isn't green) is going to make pate of the rest of the PCs.

Again, Superman's teammates are some of the most powerful in the universe. The Martian Manhunter is basically Superman with bonuses (and a weakness to fire, but that varies in effectiveness), Wonder Woman can hold her own against most planet-wreckers, Flash can solve literally any problem if the writers are bad enough at math (one comic had him doing something that would require him to move thirteen times the speed of light), and Batman is, well, the goddamn Batman.

So, to continue with this analogy, a party with Superman should probably contain the Flash, Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter, and Batman. It shouldn't be filled with second-rate heroes. If your team has second-rate heroes in it, play one yourself.

Going back to gaming properly. Did anyone play d6 Starwars? Ever play it with a single Jedi in the group? Wasn't it great fun following around a Jedi, acting as their supporting cast, while they did everything better than you? Sure; it was great fun if you were that Jedi, but it often made a pretty uninspiring and somewhat lacklustre game for others.

I think all of us would agree that showing up your party is a jerk move. There are ways to optimize without doing this. Personally, I wouldn't advocate optimizing to a level higher than that of your party unless they're so weak that the challenges the DM is throwing at you are hard to overcome.

tl;dr: Optimising doesn't make a great character. It's character that makes a great character.

As Tyger pointed out, you're absolutely correct. Optimizing also doesn't ruin a great character. Poor character does.