Indie Game Exam Question 3 (FINAL) (Gaming)

by MrPadraig08 , Steel City, Monday, October 14, 2013, 08:02 (4058 days ago) @ Cody Miller

This last question is a long form essay. No minimum length as long as you make your points convincingly.

Why is the notion of 'indie' a myth? What makes this distinction for video games non sensical? How does this contribute to the decline in the way we talk and think about video games as an art form?

First essay to get an A (if any do) wins a $20 steam card. Enough to buy like 3 indie games! :-p

The notion of indie is a myth, or at the very least a misnomer, because to gain audience, legitimacy, and/or a market a developer must use an established platform (i.e. XBL, Steam, the Internet) to release their product. In the case of self publishing, one could argue that this avoids using pre-established or endorsed platforms to release and circumvents the "sellout" stigma and unnecessarily paying the corporate overlords to release said game. While this in theory is good, and excellent for publicity, the end game is still the same as most small games or developers. That is to become legitimate by releasing games to a wide audience, receive praise in some way (not necessary, but the next part is), and making money. At the end of the day, indie (not to be confused with independent) is a state of mind more than a state of being, because they are constantly heading down a path toward relevancy, and that makes them less and less indie the more integrated and successful they become. For example, if someone starts as a part of the counter culture until that becomes the mainstream culture, they are no longer the counter culture.