I was in LA during E3 (there are enough reports on that - pick a website!) and I reflected on one of the first times I visited the city of Angeles, back in 92.

I remember being given a tour of the city by a relative, showing me the usual - the Hollywood sign, Universal Studios, the Sunset Strip.

Then we came across Rodeo (pronounced ro-dey-oh) Drive, where, in my limited perception, all the really expensive stores were in Los Angeles County. It was all interesting, but after the third Victoria's Secret store it got kind of boring.

That evening, touring the other, poorer side of the city, we came across a familiar street.

"Oh, we're back on Rodeo Drive," I said.

"No," my relative said, "this is Rodeo (pronounced ro-de-oh, as in with horses and clowns) Drive."

My journalist bs alarm starts flaring.

"But it's spelled the same way, right?" I said.

"Uh, yeah."

"And isn't this physically the same street?"

"I think so."

"So why isn't it pronounced the same?"

"I don't know," he said, laughing.

I think I know why. Because perception rules everything and the fine people of Beverly Hills probably wouldn't want their best stores on the same street where a smelly roughneck with a squeegee is asking for money. Beverly Hills deals with something higher.

There is a separation that has been happening within indie game development, too. Are indie games comparable to indie films? Are indie game developers really trying to push the envelope? Etc. Etc. And etc.

The beautiful thing is that everyone's right. No, we're not the same as indie film development, because indie films have a higher budget, requiring a higher commitment than just "programming software and spare time." And yes, we are the same, in that ideas, particularly in the puzzle genre, are taken from freeware indies and passed to the masses by corporations. Remember, that's how Tetris got started - you can read the book Game Over for more info on that.

And no, many of us haven't pushed the game development "envelope," myself included. And yes, we are pushing game development, providing an alternative to the piles of cookie-cutter games out there. Sometimes game players want a fun, retro game as opposed to another Quake clone.

So at the end of the day, we're all correct, but only because we are the dealers and the players (to use a card game analogy). If we want to separate ourselves from the "mainstream," higher art, fine - and goofy, juvenile games will become our staple. We will shut the door on anything higher, because we don't think it's possible.

Or we can simply let game designers create and, like any fine art, the good stuff will survive. There have been thousands, if not millions, of painters and only a handful have been immortalized. Everyday there are hundreds of garage bands making demos and probably less than one percent will sound decent. Why shouldn't game development be given the same freedom and respect?

Giving acknowledgement to big budget games, God-sends (no pun intended) such as Lionhead's Black and White have finally pushed the question of gaming as an artform into the mainstream media.

Does it take three years and millions of dollars to make a work of art?

We're the ones who are going to decide that.

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Written by Damon Brown.