Very interesting read!
Here are some additional thoughts:
When digital games became an industry, they also slowed down the creative expansion. Mainly because game development even after 40 years still means re-inventing the wheel. Those who did this process once, had a huge advantage - and used it to control the market as much as possible.
If you are unsure what I mean, let's see a very simple example:
We're back in 1981, a few months before the release of the C64. A young boy aged 13 walks to the mall almost every day to admire a computer named Sinclair ZX81. After a while he got up the nerve to actually touch the device and start using it. He developed his first simple programs, especially interested in the random function.
One day he asked the always helpful shop assistant: "So now that I can generate random numbers, how can I make sure, that the numbers are unique? You know, like in a card game, where you just shuffle, what is already there." The shop assistant explained it, and it was quite simple, once you understood the thoughts behind the technique.
Sounds familiar? Shuffling random unique numbers? It is. It's something everyone needs sooner or later when developing a game. Still, in 2013, people have to ask how this is done. They shouldn't be forced to. Re-inventing the wheel.
Game creation software is on the right track taking the technical load of standards away from the developer. Physics simulation, automated control behavior, line of sight, pathfinding, etc. But it's not enough yet. Because the only "indie revolution" that really deserves the name, is given when everyone can make a game, just because he/she wants to.
Just as you can write a blog or create a video. You just do it. No hurdles, no "secret" knowledge necessary. That would be a revolution...