@gamecamiller says: "The awful part about the game industry: the term "indie" has been used so much now it is a dirty word. Seriously, we need to stop using it."

@JiibayDan says: "The only time I use "indie" is for said developers profession-wise. In the end they're games, nothing more, nothing less.My problem is the way certain game communities condemn anything relating to indie as prejudice. They seem to have this disillusion that indie devs' place in industry somehow affects them..."

I think the world of indie games has evolved, and of course not always for the better. At first, the smaller world of indie developers was likely a majority of people that knew what they were doing, and had a sense of professionalism that accompanied their passion. It probably wasn't easy for them, but because it was hard, it was mostly the quality indie developers that were able to shine through and bring the innovation that's not driven by sales.

Of course as the community grew, the ease of access grew too. Now you get indie developers that are not as creative, or passionate, but are still able to provide output. So eventually you're stuck in a similar situation as the big publishers where the company kept in the indie community is so large that you'll get all types of people. Smart people, creative people, lazy people, and greedy people.

I would think the world of indie developers does not have any less amount of talent in it, or any fewer amazing games being developed within it. But because it's so large now, and so much easier, there's going to be a whole lot of crap that accompanies it, which throws off the balance, and makes it an easy target.

I don't know if we need to stop saying "indie", but I do think the population is big enough that you can't put all the indie developers in the same restrictivie qualitative categories anymore. It's too big for an all or nothing situation.