Excellent points Matt!

I have to agree with most of the comments above. DBAs lock down development environments when someone makes a mistake that takes the development server to its knees. That's going to happen if people are allowed to experiment.

Folks have to be free to fail if they're free to succeed. It's part of the equation - the equal and opposite reaction, the give and take, upside and downside. I believe the benefits outweight the costs, but I know from experience there's a time and place to tinker and learn, and a time and place where that should not be permitted.

I like Steve's idea of virtual machines a lot.

I also advocate training application and web developers in a database development methodology. Teach them how to fish; start with how to bait a hook (write re-executable T-SQL) and prepare fish (use transactions when deleting / updating).

There's a fine line between beng a gatekeeper and a roadblock. Any given situation can appear to be either, depending on which seat you occupy.

:{> Andy