Dissertation Files: Team Dossier

Two weeks ago I started a game of Dissertation Nemesis. My team is a little on the small side with only four members. None the less, I think it has been a very positive and valuable experience for everyone involved. So without further ado, the team:

• Fox Mulder vs. The Smoking Man (The X Files) "The Truth is out there," or at least Mulder must believe it is. The objective always seems so close. But as soon as you nail it down, all you are left with are more questions. This is a struggle with the unknown and often ill-defined nature of research. The Smoking Man and his Syndicate represent all the knowledge that you know must be out there, but always seem to fail to find. Other graduate student can be viewed as other CIA agents with one's committee as the board of directors. They are helpful but often understand less than you do.
• Sherlock Holmes vs. Professor James Moriarty This is the quintessential duel of wits. The problem is the villain sets the stage and is always ahead of the hero. The trick is seeing and anticipating the other's moves, getting better and better as one learns the patterns.
• Gambit vs. Rogue (X-Men) Gambit clearly likes Rogue and the attraction seems mutual. Unfortunately, any time he tries to pursue it past friendship, Rogue sucks the life out of him, literally.
• Shahryār vs. Scheherazade (1001 Arabian Nights) The exact opposite dynamic as Gambit and Rogue, Shahryar wants to kill Scheherazade. But her enchanting stories enchant him night after night, leaving he alive for one more day.

This team is closer to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen instead of the avengers. The pairings have less to do with super powers than the lives or ordinary people in extraordinary situations. In addition, the pairs fall into two classes. The first is those searching for knowledge. Both Mulder and Holmes seek answers, even if there domains and approaches are different. This is a very literal interpretation of working on a dissertation. The other class of pairings are lovers at conflict. Both Gambit and Rogue and Shahryar and Scheherazade are trying to pursue romantic relationships but have major issues standing in the way. These really do capture the love-hate relationships graduate students have with their dissertation, which is often like a significant other in many ways. Personally, I like this class of pairings and am disappointed that I didn't think of them with the standard superhero and knowledge seeker archetypes.

Right now the team meets once a week for an hour. There we talk about how our week went and any other dissertation related topics. Sometimes we go into detail on someone's project. Others we just talk about our concerns, frustrations and fears relating to graduate school. This is very therapeutic as everyone has the exact same issues and needs a chance to voice them. Overall, I think everyone is very satisfied with the meetings.

At the end of each meeting, we pass out assignments for who we will check on during the week. Then everyone has one person they must ping daily to ask about how things are going and what they are up to. After the first week, we decided to require at least a paragraph response. This forces people to own what they are doing and provides more commitment. We didn't officially theme this process, but I like to think of it as field reports to my supervising officer.

As the game continues and evolves, I'll keep people posted.

Bonus Pairing: Winry vs. Edward (Fullmetal Alchemist) "Sometimes you just want to hit it with a wrench"