Quoting Glazunov1, reply 12
Quoting Cruxador, reply 1Stardock is indie?
Can't speak for anybody else, but it's always seemed to me that if some head developer sits around afterhours discussing the latest game session they've had with their friends, chances are they're indie. If the head developer sits around afterhours discussing how well their stocks are doing with their friends, they're Game Industry.
Of course, this is just a quick and dirty method of evaluation, but as good as any other.
Where does Valve fit in? They aren't publicly traded, but I doubt anyone would call them indie...
Bara
True, but the stocks they discuss don't have to be their company's. Just their portfolios.
It's a question of what one values in a workplace situation. A friend of mine worked for a few years for Origin Systems both in its pre-EA days and a year afterwards. He said that their were staff around all the time, including in the dead of night, playing games and chatting. The atmosphere was relaxed, and congenial. When EA took over, the administrative mindset changed. Goal end dates, which had been flexible, became fixed. Mandatory classes began in work ethic. The executives knew nothing about the games; they were a separate tier of managers, as in much industry, who saw employees in terms of resources, only.
I'm not suggesting that one system is necessarily better than the other. But av various companies have shown (Z Theory management, and all that crap), when management share a common knowledge base and drive with other employees whom they manage, channels of communication remain open, morale remains higher, and more creative work gets done.
I'm getting too near mounting a soapbox. Best let it go at that. 
