Originally Posted by: Portis_26this might be a stupid question, but is Em and Esus the same thing?

No it is not. In an E chord, you play the 1 3 and 5 notes in the E maj scale. An Em chord is the 1 3 5 of the Em scale, only the third is a different note.
Sus chords are neither major or minor, they are neutral. This neutrality gives the suspended chords a feeling of tension. The amount of tension depends on whether it is a sus2, sus4, dominant seventh sus4, etc...