A lot of confusion surrounds the (sometimes erroneously) interchangable use of “independent,” and “indie.” I think it’s more a problem of lexical conventions than anything else. Nevertheless, heated debates often arise because of this disparity, and I think it’s an unnecessary side effect of two facets of an industry struggling to find their respective identities.

“Independent” game development didn’t appear out of thin air. Independently developed games were given this definitive word for a reason. “Independent” is first and foremost a business qualification. It’s simply an identification of who owns the business.

“Indie” is only tangentally a perspective or style, and only because a similar perspective and style is shared among many independent studios, not because there is any intrinsic value in the word, “independent.” The slang, “indie,” has a maleable meaning derived through an aesthetic that has pervaded the independent game development industry. Just as “casual” shouldn’t be considered interchangable with “indie,” nor should “independent.” It is slang, and nothing more.

To avoid further confusion, I suggest we try to adopt a consistent lexicon regarding our respective identities and employ the following:

• Independent - an entity not dependent upon an external entity for the distribution, promotion, and sale of wares developed and provided by the afformentioned party.
• Indie - an aesthetic or workflow derived from common practices among Independent developers.

Perhaps through the distinction of the two words in their own contexts can confusion be lifted from otherwise valuable discussion.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006 at 4:11 pm and is filed under Discussion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.