This project is a scholarly manifesto on unplaying games by (both figuratively and literally) burning them. Building from the work of trans feminist game and media scholars and designers, this dissertation asks: how can we play in the unplayable, that we might live in the unlivable? To contend with these questions, this dissertation explores "ludoarsony"—the practice of un-playing games—as a critical design philosophy and theorical approach to play. It analyzes self-immolating and self-destructing games that burn away paper, plastic, characters, and stories and gray market games that have been ‘burned' with legal dubiousness in order to show how trans play can be found in ending the (game)world. This project builds its case for ludoarsaony across three case studies, each attending a different play practice. In the first chapter, it explores self-immolating games as examples of un-ending play. By playing with fire, we can become doombringers that (un)make worlds and games alike. In the second chapter, it contends with emulation as un-recognizing play that troubles computational ontologies. By emulating games, we can explore de/compilation of software and cultural systems. Finally, it demonstrates how un-balancing play—and flipping tables—upheaves unspoken exclusionary rhetoric and ludic traditions. Ultimately, this dissertation seeks to claim the "unplayable" as a space of trans imaginary—at once speculative and material—that emerges from the ashes of ruptured ludic and computational systems. It serves as an introductory investigation into the playful possibilities of what lies beyond the horizon of the so-called unplayable.

Das überschaubare Cembalowerk von Iannis Xenakis ist aus musikanalytischer Perspektive ergiebig. Gerade sein erstes (Khoaï, 1976) und letztes (Oophaa, 1989) Werk für Cembalo zeigen auf, wie unterschiedlich er mit dem performativen Aspekt seiner Musik kompositorisch umgegangen ist. Während in Khoaï zahlreiche Überlegungen zur Spielbarkeit mit einflossen, was gerade anhand der Stellen, die Xenakis aus seinen beiden Klavierwerken Erikhthon (1974) und Evryali (1973) übertrug, deutlich wird, konzentrierte er sich bei Oophaa eher auf das dem Werk zugrundeliegende Konstruktionsprinzip und die architektonische Struktur des Werks, was in unspielbaren Stellen resultierte. Der Beitrag zeigt diese dem Werk Xenakis’ inhärente Dichotomie analytisch auf und untersucht aufgrund dessen zwei interpretatorische Lösungsvorschläge für Oophaa. Der Aspekt der Spielbarkeit bzw. Performance-Überlegungen auf Seiten des Komponisten werden somit als einen die Analyse mitbestimmenden Parameter ernst genommen. / The small harpsichord oeuvre of Iannis Xenakis yields a great deal of insight from a musicanalytical perspective. Especially his first (Khoaï, 1976) and last (Oophaa, 1989) works for harpsichord show how differently he dealt with the performative aspects. Whereas in Khoaï, numerous considerations regarding playability were incorporated, which becomes particularly evident in the passages that Xenakis transferred from his two piano works Erikhthon (1974) and Evryali (1973), in Oophaa, he concentrated more on the underlying construction principle and the architectural structure of the work, which resulted in unplayable passages. This contribution analytically demonstrates this dichotomy inherent in Xenakis’ work and, based on this, examines two proposed performative solutions for Oophaa. Thus, the aspect of playability, or performance considerations on the part of the composer, are taken seriously as a parameter contributing to the analysis.