Critical Gameplay is the application of critical design on the design of video game mechanics. It asserts that the way a game is played is both instructive and rich with meaning. As a production practice, the goal is merely to investigate the assumptions and values in video games, in the hope of initiating an intellectual dialogue.

The Critical Gameplay project and exhibition are fundamentally organized into three claims summarized in the concept of Games as Teachers. If games are evaluated as pedagogic instruments they support the following three principles: emphasis on learning for efficacy, preference for understanding over recitation, encouraging a referential evaluation of the system.

The Critical Gameplay thesis project is comprised of the rapid design, development, exhibition and distribution of four critical games. The content of the critical games works to subvert the dominant assumptions in contemporary video game experiences. Each game addresses one very specific theme, as a means of exposing a single concept.

Wait, a simple game where the player is encouraged to refrain from acting on the world. As the player moves the world disappears, but when the player waits, the world becomes more interesting. The majesty is found in the slow, controlled effort. Players are awarded points when the little things in life reveal themselves (butterflies, flowers, etc).

Bang! You’re Dead, a game that requires you to kill other players at times, but by killing them the player must endure a long interruptive experience which forces the player to review the fictive history of that particular victim.

Black and White is a game in which stereotype is challenged. Instead of being able to identify a threat by appearance, the player must examine the threat by another means, behavior. To survive the game, the player must react to non-player characters based on how they move. Two characters that look exactly the same, may act very differently.

Charity is a two-player cooperative game. The player must "give" player to continue play. Every time the player receives the ball, the paddle grows. When a player gives the ball, the ball grows, increasing play time. Play ends when either player’s paddle shrinks to nothing.