A while back there was an interesting blog that talked about defining what an indie developer was. Basically he stated that everyone has a different definition and that ultimately it includes you and does not include anyone that has more advantages than you. So he says that when a developer tries to make the definition, it is completely relative to their situation.

From what I've seen he is pretty accurate when game developers label companies as indie or not. When another company does something interesting or is doing better, they don't count because they aren't an indie. I've also heard many people complain there aren't many successful indie companies. That's because when you become a successful indie company everyone stops thinking of you as an indie company. At one point in time id was a very small indie company. Until recently they were still pretty small and still independent, but very few people actually considered them an indie company. What changed? Mostly they were successful and made lots of money.

Personally I think we are in an indie company and I don't particular care whether or not others label us that way or not. It is interesting how many times we have been disqualified from being considered an indie company though. Here are just the ways I can think of off the top of my head:

Charged more than $20 for a product (DoP was initially $29.99)
Worked in the industry for more than 2 years (6 years at Ritual)
Got a publishing deal (US, Canada, & Russia)
Actually have a company setup (with all of the stupid lawsuits, how can you not)
Have the game on retail shelves (DoP)

Anyways, no real point to all of this, just thought some of this might be interesting to others.

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