McKay's practice is focused on a critical examination of how modern technology functions in our world. Questioning deterministic notions of progress,  he does not ask viewers to throw out everything they know about technology, but rather invites them to join him in a lateral side step. What if you held two mice instead of one - doesn’t that feel oddly subversive? What if you played a video game but the screen was a series of floor lamps? By shifting expectations through embodied interactivity, his works humorously reveal simple small moments where technological designs fail their creators, and he invites viewers to consider their own relationships with technology in their daily lives.

McKay often uses games and interactivity as a core dynamic in his work. When he makes a game for the gallery, the game is fully realized and playable. The same holds true for interactive projects; he uses game design to construct interactions that are rewarding for audiences at every level so they become full participants rather than just button pushers. There is a political component to a lot of his projects, but often the politics result from the full experience rather than being conveyed through content alone. McKay wants the politics to emerge through time, maybe not even in the gallery, but in the next time audience members go to use their cell phones or sit down at their laptops.