"I can agree that they shouldn't be making this much, donations or not." Why? Why does it even matter? Do you hate him or something for getting money(seriously?)?
No, hate would be a silly thing to waste on a person I've never met. I don't even dislike them, hence suggesting "The dev should honestly take a few days to decide if this is really something they enjoy, and if they are able to sustain it." I've been there, I've been burnt out where I can't even
look at what I've been working on. Let alone actually get something done. It happens, that's why people always say to make sure you don't burn yourself out.
Peeps are not "getting ripped off". They are not forced to give him their money and i assumed those peeps have played the game and yet still CHOOSE to donate. You even said you were a Patron and yet you stopped being one meaning it's possible to stop.
Well, that's the thing about hope. You keep pushing, even if you know it's over. This has become especially prevalent in kickstarter-adjacent services, because it's so easy to put in your CC and forget. It's not a matter of force, it's a matter of whether or not WhiteRaven still feels as though they can get content done. Keeping a Patreon up despite no real intention to work on the project is bad practice, and arguing that there's no issue with that becomes a bad faith argument. Unfortunately much of project funding sites like Patreon and SubscribeStar still operate in a legal "grey area" where there hasn't been much legal precedence to decide what's okay and what's not.
And the "being a customer" part i don't fully agree with either otherwise that would mean whenever you donate to a charity or hobo or whatever you ...become their customer?
This is
definitely a bad faith argument. Do you really believe supporting an adult game is the same as donating to charity or a homeless person? We both know why people "donate" their money to Patreons, it's for a service. It's no different than purchasing an Early Access game via Steam. You're purchasing it now, knowing that nothing is set in stone and may not have as many bugs ironed out as a v1.0 (hopefully) would have.
Mighty No. 9 also comes to mind, the Not-Mega Man but made by one of the guys who made Mega Man and the MC just
happens to be blue, short, and blast things from his hand. Total commercial failure. No legal action was taken (as far as I'm aware) by Capcom, so that was entirely on the development team on Mighty No. 9. And just a heads up, they had two simultaneous Kickstarter for two separate games, the other being Not-Mega Man Legends but also
just a Mega Man Legends knockoff executed poorly by one of the developers for Mega Man.
I have sympathy for developers, I do. Especially up-and-comers that are trying to make a name for themselves. However if you plan to start a crowdfunding campaign, you have to communicate. There's just no way around it. Because otherwise, as your development stalls and you maintain radio silence, people like me start cropping up. Former supporters that feel spurned, and ruin the next up-and-comer's chance to have the same opportunity you squandered.
Tl;dr Crowdfunding a game is not the fucking same as helping out a homeless person. One person is perfectly capable of working a regular job, the homeless person is probably suffering from 1 or 10 mental illnesses that prevent them from being a functioning member of society. To even suggest that they are similar is bad faith, and shameful.
My apologies, I don't hate you either if it comes off that way. Just, homeless people have it far worse than a dev who lost their inspiration. One needs your assistance to live another day, the other just quietly takes your money and fucks off.
