Inevitability does not prevent stress or worry, in fact, it is more likely to cause it if there is no way to stop an undesired outcome. Try as we might, we cannot help it if we get stressed out by that kind of thing and that stress can lead to negative health consequences, both mental and physical. There is no getting over having something stolen from you right before your very eyes with no way to resist, that's just not something you get over. You're right, there is no easy solution, which is why Selebus is choosing to try and look away instead of continuing to watch helplessly.I'm sure it is. But it's also almost inevitable that leaks will happen, so it's better to try to not worry about it too much, if possible. And since the 5k goal meant, in author's own words "You guys have already made my dreams come true by allowing me to work on the game full time", it should be a bit easier to get over it with current 10k (where it's possible to choose to see it only as annoyance) than it would be with e.g. 2k (where it's real problem, because it means needing also other sources of income). Yes, it's bad, unfair, hurtful, ... but it's not like there's any easy solution (*), so why let it get to you too much and torture yourself?
(*) I guess some kind of DRM could work, if it had to hold only for two weeks. But it's in no way fun, annoying for paying users, etc. So probably not worth trying to go that way.
I'm going to put it out there right now before Selebus sees that DRM part, DRM is NOT an option I am willing to support as a patron. I have never had a good experience with DRM and it has only ever served to annoy the players who got the game rightfully, not prevent the players who stole it from playing. Case in point, School of Lust. Not only did the developer begin to focus almost exclusively on upgrading the DRM continuously to keep modders from restoring the incest he took out to comply with Patreon, almost completely ignoring actual content additions, but he began causing performance issues in the game for EVERY player in the process with every update.
Precisely, there are people on here willing and able to crack most, if not all, DRM that is available at the moment for the average developer. It would take military grade protection to stop them. With no other viable alternative, looking away and trying to ignore the theft is his best option and I'm glad he's taking it, though sad he won't be as active here because of that.Except that if you look at a few other games on here that had DRM in them, it ended up preventing the leaks for not even a whole extra day. Patreon login to be able to play? Cracked within a few hours at most.
Not to mention that if he ended up putting DRM in the game, a lot of people would stop supporting him. It's really not a worthwhile option.
There's sadly nothing he can really do to prevent the leaks entirely, other than finding who is doing it and removing him as a patron. But even that is not really long-term viable since they can create as many patreon accounts as they want. Sel taking a step back from f95 is quite possibly the best thing he can do for his mental health. It sucks to see a dev have to do it, but it's in his own best interest. At least for a little while.