The paper focuses on digital games highlighting their potential for critical education. Avoiding extreme positions that understand computer games as inherently good or bad, the text initially discusses, from a theoretical point of view, how videogames, as cultural artifacts, convey social values and support specific ideologies. Following the theoretical discussion, the paper considers two different possibilities of exploring computer games in order to promote critical social awareness: subversive reading of existing games and construction of critical games. General guidelines for critical games production are also discussed.
critical games; digital literacy; new technologies