Thomas Grønvoll

There’s a strange sort of dissonance in the way we as a society talk about videogames; in both the watercooler moments, the newspapers and in the policies we craft. For a medium that spans genres, aesthetics, and experiences —from quiet and introspective narrative experiences to bombastic action spectacles— we often, and unfortunately, default to reductive conversations about addiction, violence, or commercial success. 

Thomas has co-authored Norway’s national gaming strategies and established cultural initiatives exploring how games speak to young audiences as art.

Through Critical Reflection, he continues this exploration in the margins of a full-time life, writing between grant deadlines and bedtime stories for his five-year-old twins. He helps organizations, creators, and policymakers understand games as powerful cultural forces —not just entertainment, but as art forms that shape how we think, feel, and see the world.

This is a space for slow thinking about fast media. For finding the poetry in procedural generation, the mythology in mechanics, and the ghosts in the glitches.

Featured project

Tid for spill – The Norwegian government’s video game strategy 2024-2026

I was part of the inter-agency working group that authored “Time for Games – The Government’s video game strategy 2024-2026” on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Equality.

The strategy aims to help raise the status of video games as an art and cultural expression in Norway. The four main areas we have worked with are:

• Video games as art and cultural expression
• Video games as leisure activity
• Video games as e-sports
• Video games as a tool for learning

In the follow-up to the strategy, I have been involved in the preliminary project for establishing NFI Spill‘s role as a national resource and competence center for video game culture in Norway.

Featured Project

Kulturtankens Spillab

In 2018, I established Kulturtanken’s Spillab (GameLab), where I worked until 2025 developing the agency’s focus on video games as art and cultural expression for children and young people.

Spillaben was intended to open doors for video games as art and cultural experiences. The goal of the lab was to stimulate critical and conscious thinking about video games as art and cultural expression, form networks and create connections between DKS (The Cultural Rucksack), the gaming industry and the education sector.

“There must be facilitation and encouragement for conversations and discussions about quality, artistic value, relevance and topicality in video games.”

Spillerom – Video game strategy 2020-2022

Conference

Spilltanken 2: Video games as artistic experiences and learning tools

In 2022, I organized, in collaboration with Seanse – center for art production, the national conference Spilltanken 2. The goal of the conference was to inspire teachers, artists, communicators and game creators to develop, adapt and see the possibilities for video games in schools and in The Cultural Rucksack (DKS).

Streaming/Podcast

Spillprat – a conversation about video games as art and culture

I have developed the concept Spillprat (Game Talk) and hosted these streaming events betweem 2020-2025

Spillprat is a place to discuss video games as art and cultural experiences in Norwegian public discourse.

Article

Far Cry 5 – Refusings its own politics

Article about the video game Far Cry 5, for the research journal Gamevironments. The article is an orientalist and political analysis that problematizes how video games relate to political themes.

Report

Video games as cultural expression in the DKS system

The report is a mapping of the potential for including video games as art and cultural expression in The Cultural Rucksack (DKS).

The report points out competence needs in DKS regarding video games as art and cultural expression.

Framework

Framework for disseminating video games in DKS

The framework is based on experiences from piloting video games in DKS from 2021. It is intended to be a guide for video game communicators and a starting point for developing communication programs for video games in DKS.

Event

Kulturtanken’s seminar on videom games 2024

In October 2024, I organized Kulturtanken’s professional day on video games, where the main theme was storytelling in video games and a special episode of the Game Lab’s vodcast “Spillprat – A conversation about video games as art and culture.”