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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd2023-1223 |
| Date | 01 January 2024 |
| Creators | Berge, PS |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024 |
| Rights | In copyright |
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