Critical Game Design Paradigms as Tools for Environmental Action

This chapter establishes critical game design together with speculative design and art games as viable avenues for sustainability action and activism. When applied to game making, these approaches aim at creating play experiences that foster reflection either towards the game form and game development or towards society at large. The chapter investigates examples and techniques of critical/speculative design, art games and game activism offering inspiration for addressing complex topics with no right answers. It explains how ambiguity and alienation facilitate subjective interpretations and meaning making and draws on previous similar practices in theatre and film.