1. Why could you say that the “Indie” game scene is not a new thing and explain, give examples?

The term ‘Indie’ refers simply to something that is independently developed. It is typically used in association with music but has more recently been related to games. Although the term is only now getting more use, the ‘indie’ games have still been around from the very beginning the only difference being that the original ‘indie’ games were ‘indie’ in a far more literal sense whereas recently the term has also been used to somewhat refer to a style of game as well. Following that ‘indie’ is simply independently developed, the entire gaming industry started with an indie game. Tennis for two is widely recognised as the first ever video game. Developed in 1958 on the oscilloscope, the game is a representation of tennis played by turning a knob to angle the ‘racket’ and pressing a button to hit the ‘ball’ over the net. Its creation is credited solely to nuclear physicist William Higinbotham and by that statement it can be defined as an indie game. Following that: Spacewar, the first computer game originally developed by Steve Russell, a student at MIT; and Computer space, the first commercially sold coin operated video game by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, are both by definition ‘Indie’. In fact the first notable game that wouldn’t be considered ‘indie’ was pong by Atari incorporated in 1972. It is worth noting that Spacewar and computer space were both later published by other companies but it is the original development of the game that I am referring to as ‘indie’

References

(n.d.) the first video game? Brookhaven national laboratory. Available at: https://www.bnl.gov/about/history/firstvideo.php

Bellis M. (2017) The History of Spacewar. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-spacewar-1992412

Modine A. (2008) Before Pong, there was Computer Space. Available at: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/13/tob_computer_space/

2.Has the term indie become meaningless?

After writing the answer to question A. yes it has. I’m not sure it’s even a word anymore. Joking aside I don’t think it ever had a meaning to lose besides its literal definition and that can’t change and even in severe overuse it can’t lose meaning. I think what is now defined as indie is exactly what indie is and always has been, small independent teams or individuals creating without the support of any larger external companies. The part of indie that may have been lost over the years is how big a team can be before it’s not indie anymore and I honestly don’t know that an answer even exists, the line between indie and small company is discernible only by legality and that slightly defeats the term indie as some individuals have created companies to deal with monetary issues but are still a lone developer and should still be considered indie. To sum up this mess of an answer it has a single definition, albeit a loose one, and hasn’t really had or lost any other meaning.