http://venturebeat.com/2014/07/19/indie-games-are-more-important-than-ever/

I personally feel indie games are becoming an essential part to any gaming console. Their quality has risen greatly in recent years thanks to the spread of tools like Unreal Engine 3 and Unity. Recent successes like Guacamelee! and Shovel Knight have really opened my eyes to indie games. They seem like the replacement to the B tier games that just don't seem to come out anymore. They're the games that fill the gaps between the AAA titles these days, and the bigger and more elaborate people try to make the AAA titles, the more gaps there will be.

My personal favorite indie game so far has been Shovel Knight. That may change when I get the updated Guacamelee! here soon. I'm also eyeing Scram Kitty. Anyone else got some suggestions?

I feel like they are a nice bonus.

very important for gaming, for something new each time we get tired of the AAA titles

Depends on the importance to whom and for what purpose.

Indie games aren't some cool new invention. They are the inevitable compromise of a growing gaming industry. It's not like there could be a world where they not exist.

I quite enjoy indies (or smaler, downloadable games that are not indie). It gives a nice balance to big budget games and can be a ton of fun.

It seems that this gen they are more important than ever, filling in gaps left by major parties. Sonys "less AAA" comment was pretty telling to me as to how many less major disc base releases we will be seeing compared to the previous gen.

As my most favorite genre (see sig) is considered indie these days, indie games are the most important ones to me.

Not important to me at all. I've only seen a few catch my eye so far.

I've played a decent number of indies and most of the best ones hardly hold a candle to larger budget titles.   Most of the indies I've played were considered to be the gems of indie games.  Indie titles are cheap, and well, you get what you pay for. Some genres are lacking in games, so indie games do fill those gaps if you want to play new games in a specific genre, but even then they leave a lot to be desired.,

Tbh, i dont really care about them too much. Like, I only play them when I got nothing else to play and I mean nothing else! (With the exception of anime indie games)