There's only the "headcannon" implanted by the Dev in his original mission statement. My mistake was to believe it, which seems quite reasonable to me, especially as the game/VN fulfilled the promise for quite some time, before a far from inevitable degeneration. That again was the Dev's choice but I live in hopes, (perhaps wilfully naive), that it is not terminal. I havn't been complaining for 5 years but I have played this for 5 years. L&P may well not care about what's said on a pirate forum & we know he describes pirates as "rats" but we also know he sometimes reads this thread.
Please don't fail to point out how "insufferably annoying" myself & various others are. It must be tedious to those who choose to view constructive criticism as simple love of complaining, no doubt. (Although there is a handy "ignore" function). Truth is I always assume that those who don't criticise, while not being necessarily especially happy with how things are, must be zen enough to take it all philosophically. Why then they feel the need to criticise the critics, is a sign that emotions are still there. 'Don't like it....ignore it' but imagine how dull that seems to some of us. Staying with the que sera, sera philosophical approach, I'm not playing AWAM at the moment but I won't be leaving anytime soon, or maybe I will, if AWAM is abandoned, who knows?. When will that be? I'm really curious to see how long this project lasts, especially with the development pace & story arcs selected by L&P. It's already lasted far, far longer than other games I've played which entered this kind of downward trajectory, which some would call a death spiral. AWAM, however, lives 'triumphantly' on. Against the odds?
Sticking with the sports analogy, I've seen teams improve with time & money being invested after loyal fans abandoned them in large numbers, because ultimately it's money that talks. THEN they listen. Who knows if Patrons will always be loyal? They are consumers after all, regardless of the sponsorship element in the Patreon business model. What chance is there of the Dev restoring, or even partially resurrecting, his original vision? (Not much but it's not impossible IMO). All these things interest me because AWAM is my favourite game. I'd like nothing better where this saga is concerned than to be writing complimentary stuff & I have done in the past & may do again, (I hope there is the occasion) but as you say, that could also be viewed as a waste of time, when it comes to pirates. If it is, it's my time.... Nobody forces us to be AWAM fans but there will always be those who think that it's time something changed for the better.
