The Decameron interested me from the beginning. As a fan of literature, I loved reading the stories of the brigada, and I especially liked the stories where a person’s desires clashed with what an authority figure or what society as a whole expected them to behave like. Internal struggles vs. external forces describe lots of political and social conflicts, and I like seeing how people manage their public appearance and their personal yearnings.

The two primary sources I want to research are the drama Faust I, by Goethe, and Library of Ruina, by Project Moon.

Faust I

  • Goethe, 1808
  • Access: Physical copy, translated by Alice Raphael
  • Medium: Drama
  • Identity: German, Director of the Werther Theater, natural scientist
  • Written during the romantic period, and performed in many public theaters
  • Faust’s desires and ambitions lead him to sin, and seem to damn him to hell until he repents by feeling sorry for Gretchen and helping her escape execution

I relate to Faust a little bit in his quest for knowledge and pleasure. His exploits are ridiculous, but also feel human. With more research, I’d like to know how audiences from many countries interpreted the work, how much Germans treasured the work at the time of creation, how it is a product of the Romantic period, and how it is different from earlier renditions of Faust.

I would have to interpret this piece through dramatic analysis, with a little historical analysis to understand how Goethe reworked the Faust legend.

Library of Ruina

  • Project Moon, 2020
  • Access: Software, completed game
  • Genre: Deck building game, Strategy
  • Identity: Korean developers, started as a college group
  • The sequel to Lobotomy Corporation. L Corp was created as a passion project, and LoR was the next step to continue the story. The audience is likely for younger adults who live in capitalistic systems. There were no ads for the game, apart from promotions on their social media accounts
  • Society tries to repress and control people’s actions that go against their inner desires. They are expected to mask their emotions and follow what society tells them. One group, The Index, is a crime syndicate whose members follow instructions given to them on a piece of paper which they claim comes from the “will of the City.” They will kill and do anything the prescript tells them without any greater purpose.

I love LoR not just for its gameplay, but for its relatable and heart-wrenching story, as you play as the protagonists who kill the people with dreams, friends, and family, while also watching a prologue about who they are and why they were coerced into going to the Library. With more research, I’d like to understand all the different forces that manipulate the guests’ decisions (social, economic, etc.), how other players perceive the story, and how the protagonists justify their murders.

This game can be analyzed similarly to a drama, since the dialogue is mostly character interaction. Additionally, an art analysis will be useful in some major scenes.


My essay will discuss how individual desires in Faust and Library of Ruina conflict with how society manipulates their decisions. I struggled with finding a research topic for a while since I’m allowed to choose almost anything, which means I have unlimited options: books, games, shows, etc. With so many options, I just decided I would choose the stuff I loved, a sentiment shared by many of the past students, including the award winning 2022-3 student, who have done research, so I chose a video game I love and a book I enjoyed, which also happen to be two mediums of stories that I’m most familiar with.

I liked reading Faust partly because of the lyrical diction, but also because I found Faust as a character entertaining for his misplaced confidence and, later, his genuine attempts at penance. It is a story of how humans can be misled by their desire for knowledge, but also how they are capable of becoming better if they try.

My main question for Faust is: To what extent does Goethe’s Faust diverge from earlier depictions of the Legend of Faustus, and why does he create a better ending for Faust?

Library of Ruina was honestly something I wanted to do from the beginning, given how much love I have for the game. I was waiting for an opportunity to do more, and with this research thesis I can. The game itself is a big worldbuilding project, constructing the bigger setting, simply called the City, through individual stories from the lowest criminal syndicate to the highest corporate worker and all the people in between, whether their psychopaths who enjoy killing or office workers just trying to make a living.

My main question for LoR is: To what extent does capitalism or other social forces prevent the guests from following their passions?