Dene GrigarExhibit looks at how video gaming has influenced modern society

Dene Grigar became a gamer in the 1970s, after she and a friend tried playing “Pong” in her living room for the first time.

Since then, Grigar, director and associate professor of creative media and digital culture at WSU Vancouver, has only grown more fascinated with games and how they impact us as individuals and as a society. She and several of her students and assistants have set up a new exhibit at Nouspace Gallery & Media Lounge, inside of Angst Gallery in Vancouver, Wash., that aims to show how strongly gaming has influenced modern society.

“Game Changers: Video Games as Innovation,” opening March 6, seeks to be both educational and fun. The free, interactive exhibit highlights the importance of games such as “Pong,” “Ms. Pacman,” “Tetris,” “Myst,” “Portal,” and “Dance Dance Revolution,” among many others.

“Each work selected for the exhibit represents one that impacted our thinking and behavior in some significant way,” Grigar said. “So, the exhibit does not celebrate the beauty of games or try to make a case for how cool they are, but rather it argues that they have contributed greatly to who we are today in the 21st century — and that they have influenced all aspects of our lives, from health and medicine to business, communication and education.”

Learn more about “Game Changers” and the research behind it at the link below.

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The Columbian