[drittich]

> it was almost entirely geeks fucking around with things they found fun

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think many artists would find this fits quite well as a definition of an artist, in process if not in intent.

[AlexandrB]

Agreed. "Fucking around" with music/movies/games/images is where the new ideas come from. Once you have an audience you need to satisfy you're locked in to their existing pre-conceptions of what "good" is unless you're very brave.