Everyone is invited : How access to development tools influences innovation democracy and bridges the digital divide

Abstract: Indie studios, which used to have a challenging time creating and releasing games, are on the rise. In the past, these studios have had a hard time getting their hands on useable tools. Indie developers at the time had to work with basic tools in order to create games less technologically advanced. This created a gap between triple-A and indie studios that, at the time, was widely disregarded. This stands as the lens for our study. We begin by conducting a prestudy that looks at the statistics behind games on steam. After this we form our interview questions and conducted both standardized open-ended interviews as well as surveys. The data collected suggest that there is a correlation between the availability of ease-of-use tools and content created. In our discussion we bring forth ideas about how this may help reduce the knowledge gap, and nurture the online innovation democracy.