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Okay, so this may be a stupid question, but speaking as someone who has not been part of the PC gaming industry for about 5 years, what does "Indie" mean?
I hear some of my friends talking about it, and they seem to be unwilling to explain it to me, for some reason.
So I want to know:

1) What is it?
2) Where does it come from?
3) Does it matter to me (Who plays tabletop games and Xbox games)?
4) What does "Indie" music mean - if it means anything at all?

Thanks for any answers, and not treating me like a newbish fool (assuming you don't).

Doctor Jones!

Swan-of-War wrote:
Doctor Jones!

Ummm.. I'm not sure I understand the reference, if any...

 Selym wrote:

Swan-of-War wrote:
Doctor Jones!

Ummm.. I'm not sure I understand the reference, if any...

Indiana Jones? Duh.

Anyway, in the context of videogames "indie" refers to independent game development studios and the games they produce.

Indie music initially meant the same but since then the stripped down style of underground, independent musicians has been emulated by signed musicians.

 Corpsesarefun wrote:

 Selym wrote:

Swan-of-War wrote:
Doctor Jones!

Ummm.. I'm not sure I understand the reference, if any...

Indiana Jones? Duh.

Anyway, in the context of videogames "indie" refers to independent game development studios and the games they produce.

Well that makes a lot of sense...
I don't see why my friends couldn't have just said that, it would have saved a lot of confusion. Thankyou for helping

...

...

Now I am compelled to watch the Indiana Jones movie trilogy (The last one with the aliens was rubbish - I'll not be watching that one again..)

Indie means a game or studio is Independent of a publisher such as EA.
It probably comes from the term Indie as a music genre meaning the same thing but this has since morphed into a music genre of a specific sound.
This doesn't mean a massive amount to an individual person but once a game is free from a publisher the devs are much more free to explore and innovate in a game. It's better for the community and games as a whole.
For music... it's a certain sound/genre.

I find it pretty funny that indie games are far more deserving of the title than indie music. Indie Music's contemporary definition is basically anything that sounds like the strokes, or to go back further Blur or Sparklehorse.

The definition for Indie music has changed to mean that though. It used to be pretty much the same as the game specific definition.

1) What is it?

Indie games use to be any game that was developed in house free of the traditional publisher development system. That system being one where publishers supply support to the development team in the form of marketing and finance.

Today though it's also kind of a genre of sorts for small budget games. Perfect World for example is a publisher that has at times marketed themselves as the "Indie" publisher. But still uses the traditional publisher support system for game development.

2) Where does it come from?

The English I guess Here's a wikipage with a brief overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indie_game#Industry.

3) Does it matter to me (Who plays tabletop games and Xbox games)?

Meh it doesn't have to. A lot of indie games end up being more creative in some ways that more mainstream titles and some are just good bang for the buck. Some good examples you could explore are Bastion, Braid, and Torchlight (all available on an Xbox I believe).

4) What does "Indie" music mean - if it means anything at all?

No idea. I just listen to music. That's about it for me.

Indie = Independent. An independent game developer is not tied to a producer and is usually a smaller company.

Thank you all for replying, I think I now know what Indie is