Indie opportunities.(editor's note)(Editorial)

Contrary to popular belief, the independent game-developer community is not made up entirely of nerdy teenage boys who spend more time stealing other people's code than creating their own. A comprehensive new survey from Acacia Research Group (www.acaciarg.com), called "The Amateur/Independent Game Development Tools Market," shows that while this group contains its share of absolute beginners, it is made up largely of professional adults who are well educated, experienced, and willing to devote serious time and money to develop games for a rapidly expanding and diversifying market.

To conduct the survey, Acacia polled independent game developers on the Web sites they tend to frequent, including gamedev.net. The results showed that the majority were males over the age of 21, that nearly three-quarters had attended "institutes of higher learning," and that a third had game-development industry experience. The data also revealed that approximately half the respondents spend between 10 and 30 hours per week on game projects that earn 20 percent of this group between $500 and $50,000 per year and another 5 percent between $50,000 and $100,000 per year.

When it comes to paying for development tools, more than 90 percent said they purchased software over the past five years, and nearly 40 percent spent from $500 to more than $5000. However, on the downside, nearly 30 percent said they pirate development programs, and 25 percent admitted to stealing more than $5000 worth of such tools.

How do they justify stealing? Some say it is excusable because they're not making money from their work. In fact, those who make the least steal the most. ...