E.T didn’t collapse the industry - it the massive cash grab that incited E.T, and the games like E.T, that lead to the demise of video games in the 80’s.
I think that as a community, we should help wherever and whenever possible. If Tim Sweeney and the rest of Epic & Co can spend their free time answering questions from absolute beginners, you can do it too! I hate to imagine harboring an “us vs them” mentality, when really it’s just us - we’re all unreal engine developers, that’s it, and that’s why we’re here.
UDK existed as a free alternative to a stand alone UE3 license, and great games from both platforms were eventually released - Unity existed at the time, and there were some great games released with Unity as well.
Look at the Completed Projects section of the forum, and the Works In Progress, and imagine how much cool stuff we’re going to see once people really start getting involved - can you imagine how much talent is out there that was being limited due to monetary restrictions? I, for one, am excited at the prospect of a larger, more diverse community.