Oh my. How did I miss this thread so far? Now I have reading material for the whole weekend. And if you'll excuse the self-promotion, I keep a Tumblr about the new artistic forms that are cropping up in gamedev, and the tools that enable them. Inevitably, the topic of personal games crops up over there more often than even I realize...
P.S. For what it's worth, Kindness Coins is an example of personal game I happen to like, right here on itch.io. And Coming Out Simulator 2014 has an intriguing beginning, but I haven't played very far.