I think a lot of folks misunderstand the purpose of things like supporting on Patreon.
Unless the Dev outright says that the supporters have actual input on the structure and plot of titles because those supporters have hired them to make it, it's nothing more than a donation. They are choosing as a (presumably) responsible adult with their own free will to donate some of their money to someone else as a show of thanks for making something they (again presumably) enjoyed.
But many seem to think 'I have given you money you are now a slave to my will and I will loudly bitch and moan if you deviate from that will in any way whatsoever'.
And even if a Dev asks for input via such a service, they are under no obligation to obey the results of such a poll or query. They can likely expect a decrease in donations if they constantly did so, but it's still their IP and they can do with it whatever they like. If people dislike the direction of their work, those people can make the decision to cease providing that money to the dev. But at no point does it constitute any kind of actual contract between Dev and patron to provide anything the Dev doesn't want to. That's not how this interaction works.
Now, if that person had commissioned a game from Luxee and Luxee instead kept doing whatever the fuck they wanted and not following the remit, that's a very different story. But if people dislike the Dev's direction, they can just be a grown up and stop monetarily supporting them. Simple as that.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. And to sharing that opinion. But everyone else is equally entitled to call that opinion utter fucking garbage to their face. That's free speech. Though seeing the same moaning over and over again when the solution to their problem is so simple as to be facile really does tend to get tedious. Especially given that solution is far more likely than the Dev suddenly deciding they are right and for them to entirely throw their own will and plot out the window just to please the vocal minority.
Maybe it's just a flaw in the way following a thread works on these sites. It'd be nice if you could do it in a way that only notified for updates to the game, while not bothering you when yet another person was whining that they disliked something that has been tagged from the get go, asking when it's going to be updated, or going 'abandoned?' on a thread five minutes after the last person did.
Given that I'm pretty sure no one is forcing any of them to play the game at gunpoint lest they and their entire family be murdered if they refuse to play it, nothing in the game is being forced on them at all. And they can choose at any time to stop playing something they don't enjoy. But instead, it's endless bitching about the thing they didn't like that was always there from the off, and was flagged as having been so.
Be nice if we could instead live in a world where people took responsibility for their own actions, rather than throwing a hissy fit whenever things don't go their way.
I'm with you with almost everything you said.
The only thing I want to add is something from my own perspective as a supporter.
If I find a game I like - which means that its tags mostly suit my tastes, I like at least the majority of graphics and characters, and have an interest in the story - I'm interested in seeing this game completed.
I'm not donating to the dev(s) so they are able to give me a monthly fix, but because I want them to be able to create a complete product, for me as well as themselves.
I'm aware that the representation of a game here is not always true to what the developer had in mind due to them not deciding what tags are added and so on. So when in doubt, I wait for some time to see how the game progresses.
And of course this 'I support a dev to be able to create a full product' is something that's going on in my head entirely - I have no binding contract with any dev. But if a dev chose to do an episodic format, where no update went in the same direction as the last - I wouldn't support them most likely - or would do so specifically for that reason.
But in most cases, I think it is a fair assumption, that a game won't do a 180 in character personalities, graphics, storytelling, or plot.
So if a developer does so out of the blue, I'll think more than twice about supporting them again.
Imagine you love classical music and want to support an institution that helps people to get an education on classical instruments.
You do so for half a year and the money is given without any restrictions of use.
Then, the board of that institution, without warning, starts producing Tiktok videos doing firecracker explosions, stopping any ongoing educational support from before.
Sure, some people are left with some more understanding/education in that field - but it was mainly for nothing and lost money you could instead have used to support an organization sticking to its goals.
I wanted a certain game about a sports phenomenon to succeed in the way it started and supported it with a substantial amount of money. Then it went haywire and later continued in a different direction in several aspects.
You can say I enjoyed what was there in the beginning for that money or that I just pledged to support a dev I liked. But I could have spent it to support games and devs I still like, and would touch again in the future - creating something lasting (for me), that maybe stopped doing what they did because I was one of many that prioritized that other game over theirs.
You can say that's bad luck and just go on, but I feel annoyed by this.
I won't start complaining in random threads, but I'm definitely more wary nowadays about whom I support.
A large part of all these donation structures is (or should be) communication about what you do, so people who like exactly that can find you and people that don't can stay away.
If you have a VN about the romance between a straight couple, I can understand anyone supporting that game being annoyed if in chapter 10, without any mentioning beforehand, the girl changes into a male horse and they keep going at it.