- Mar 15, 2020
- 537
- 961
I guess I understand where you're coming from, but realistically....that's real life commerce. 'developer' is such a lofty stroking title but the bottom line is they are Suppliers, and patrons are Customers. Relabeling doesn't change the real life expectations of the buying public. Supplier develops a product that's good, people buy it. Product isn't good they will go elsewhere. A Supplier changes up his product and delivers something below the expectations of their customer base, they will lose that base. Not brain surgery. Well, maybe it is, because so many 'developers' and even 'patrons' who defend those failures don't seem to get that. Furthermore, the developers who do that sort of thing create a skeptical buying environment for customers(patrons) that is damaging to other developers and prospective developers. And burnout..."schmurnout". What a piss-ant claim that is. Finish what you started. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. An unfinished product is a flat out failure on the part of the developer. I've spent a lot of money in "support" of some really creative developers only to be disappointed by that cheap excuse nonsense (Palmer, Caizer). I work too hard for my money, and when someone takes my money to support something I am entitled to have expectations from them. There ARE a lot developers out there that get it (Luxee, Mr. Dots are just a couple of shining examples), but I'm sure that even they have to shoulder some of the fallout from customer(patron) reaction to those who don't. JMPOV.What can guarantee that his muse won't change in 6 or 10 months?
Absolutely nothing.
That's why I see patronage as "I'm supporting this dev", not "I'm supporting this game". If patrons aren't willing to give money to the dev to follow his muse, and instead give money to a dev to support a certain game, they should pull their support if his/her vision diverges from what they wanted.
Unfortunately, the threat of this probably puts pressure on some devs, so they keep working on stuff they don't have a passion for, to keep the sweet Patreon trough flowing.