After rounding up the best developers and the must-have games on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel over the last week, I've started to gain a deeper knowledge and greater appreciation for the community and the games they produce. I've learned things that defied my expectations and enjoyed games that I thought I'd hate. While my week-plus time researching XBLIG titles and its developers doesn't make me an expert, it has raised a few questions and ideas that the various communities surrounding the service should take into consideration.

"DEAR PRESS,
As of right now, the Xbox Live Indie Games channel is almost as eclectic as Apple's App Store, without the interested reader-base to encourage consistent coverage. While there are outlets dedicated to covering XBLIG, more of the mainstream media needs to find avenues of coverage that can appeal to readers unfamiliar with the service. At the very least, the many web and print publications that cover the Xbox should keep up with the top XBLIG titles and present them to the fans in a way that will help them overcome their aforementioned bias."

 
"DEAR DEVELOPERS,
Great work so far. We're sorry that many of you haven't received the accolades or compensation your games should have commanded. While you've done a commendable job working within the many constraints set in front of you, there are a few things you can do to help your cause. You've done great creating major events like Summer Uprising to stand alongside the Summer of Arcade, but as a community, it falls on you to create a year-round way to celebrate your games. Even if you don't have the same tools given to Xbox disc and XBLA developers, you can create similar features with a little elbow grease. A handful of our favorite Xbox Live Indie Games feature Achievements-alikes like 'Awardments' or 'Trophies,' which not only provides something for cheevo-loving gamers, but it provides a base in case higher-ups ever decide to bestow the ability to add them to Indie Games. Similarly, a handful of games allow variations on community leaderboards, even if you can't directly check your scores against Xbox Live friends on the service. Before Apple created Game Center, App developers banded together to create services like Open Feint that would allow players to find opponents and earn in-game meta-achievements. There's a chance that Microsoft won't ever permit Indie Games  to stand at equal footing with the other games on the Xbox - you, the Indie development community, need to work together to make up the difference."

"DEAR MICROSOFT,
Plain and simple, you need to stop treating Xbox Live Indie developers like third-class citizens. Denying Achievements and proper online options sends a very clear message to the rest of the world - that these games aren't as important. Given the extensive library of Indie Games already available, bestowing those features on the entire backlog is an impossibility. Even though you brought online gaming and Achievements to the masses, you should take a good long look at what Apple's done with Game Center. Particular titles that have met specific criteria have earned Game Center support - a tactic Microsoft should ape when it comes to XBLIG. The Windows 7 team has defined a class of games worthy of giving Achievements to players, while still allowing titles of lower caliber to exist without them. If you can do the same for Indie Games - which shouldn't require more than a set of standards and a small team or willing community to enforce them - you may not have given XBLIG the same respect as the rest of the Xbox library, but you've made significant progress."