Benefits of Buying Indie
As I have mentioned previously, the "Indie" gaming scene (from my standpoint at least) is actually pretty inclusive, as much as we might try and make it sound like it's an elite bastion of gaming purity.

This means its pretty hard to characterize indies as a whole. But if you stick with the top few percent - the ones that really stand out and DO get noticed- you can make some statements that tend to hold true. As both a member of the development community AND a customer of the same, here are some benefits I've found that really impressed me about buying indie games:

#1 - Outstanding Customer Support
I've received rapid response times to emails and queries, even on weekends or evenings (though for many indies, those are their prime working hours). I've had suggestions for games actually get implemented into the next rev of the game within weeks, or even DAYS. With indies, it seems that the tiny organizational overhead means you are either talking directly to the developer involved, or you are only one step away.

I've been able to be involved in the process on behalf of players of the third-party games I sell on my site, and I have to admit that I have been impressed. From game hints and questions to really nasty technical issues, the developers have been awesome and extremely responsive for me to help people out.

And I thought *I* didn't sleep much...

#2 - Instant Fun
Indie games are generally available as a download, and usually have a small enough footprint that you won't be waiting all night for a download to finish. You may even be able to play a scaled-down demo version directly via your web browser. You don't need a lot of patience or a trip to the local mall.

And if you find the free trial versions to be to your liking, buying the full version rarely takes more than a couple of minutes, either. In my experience, I usually haven't had enough time to go to the fridge and grab a soda before I had a registration key ready to unlock my new game.

#3 - Long-Term Support For Your Game
I touched on this a little while ago. Have you ever tried to even find a patch for a typical 3-year-old mainstream game? Maybe one you played and enjoyed but never finished, and want to try it out again? (Or am I the only one who does that?) It can be a nightmare. But for indie games, a 3-year-old game might just be hitting it's prime, and is still actively getting updated and improved. Indie games have much longer legs, and indie developers seem much more devoted to maintaining their games, than most mainstream developers and publishers.

#4 - Unique, Flavorful, and Niche Games
Some indie games are really innovative and sometimes just plain bizarre. Some may not necessarily blow all your beliefs about what videogames can do out the window, but they might have a unique angle or subject matter that you just don't find in mainstream games because they just aren't "economically viable" (meaning the publisher doesn't believe the concept has the potential to sell a half-million copies MINIMUM).

The whole "casual games" phenomenon originated becase some folks (mainly indies) decided to serve a niche category that mainstream was ignoring. Now it's the fastest-growing segment of the industry, and the mainstream publishers are frantically trying to figure out how to adjust their business model to get a piece of the action.

Genres considered dead by the mainstream industry, such as space combat games and adventure games, find new life among the indies. I was floored by how many indie space combat games were coming out around the same time I released Void War. Then you've got indie games in conventional genres injected with the personality and unique ideas of the creator, making fresh and unique (and arguably innovative in their subject matter), like with Aveyond, Kid Mystic, Outpost Kaloki, and Cute Knight. Or something completely off-the-wall DIFFERENT that defies categorization, like Deadly Rooms of Death: Journey to Rooted Hold.

#5 - Low Price, High Value
Most indie games are significantly cheaper than their first-run mainstream counterparts. Even more significantly now that EA and other large publishers are bragging about paying more for development and passing the increased cost on to their customers for new-gen console games. Sure, indie games typically don't have quite the whistles and bells of their mainstream counterparts. But many people find indie games that provide a much bigger bigger bang-for-the-buck in terms of sheer fun and raw entertainment value than the latest "AAA" releases.

#6 - Try Before You Buy
Almost all indie games have a demo version you can try out first. So you don't even have to commit the already low price of admission to the full version to make sure you are going to be happy with your purchase. Sure, it's hardly a new or unique thing to indie games, but it's nice to have a pretty substantial sample and know in advance you are going to be happy.

Now if only movies would let us watch the first half hour for free before deciding whether or not we wanted to pay for a ticket.

#7 - You Get To Feel All Avant-Garde 'n Stuff
You are the trendsetter, because you see past the pablum-pushing mainstream marketers and have been wired into the digital underground to pick up on the freshest and most innovative concepts that are just TOO hot and experimental for the rank-and-file gamer!

Okay, maybe not. But hey, your friends won't know the difference!

#8 - Insert Your Benefit Here
Okay, I'm out. I was already reaching on the last one.

What have you got?

Labels: Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:15 AM (Permalink)