Thanks for the little word. Yes, I understand the logic. And it is true; however, a scammer never delivers. It is why we call them that way.
As I explained, T made an honest announcement about his trouble. This has been harshly punished by people that not even support his development. This event broke all communication. I don't try to excuse his behaviour, but I know that breaking contact is a form of defence. As I do homework support, I can sometimes understand even if I don't know why.
For the context, let me add to what you say. This map is about the pornographic laws. Meaning that for half of the world, piracy is the simplest and safest way. And they cannot even promote the game. I find it fascinating that these laws bleed into video games to control personal fantasies, which are not even social and where no harm is done. (When the rest of the world is fine with killing each other).
Just as a reminder, SMA have a 93% piracy rate, certainly due partly to the above, reinforced by the issues we are exposing. In this context, Independent development, like SMA or any other passion project, becomes difficult or nearly impossible without troubles.
I understand that the default mendacity (Patreon) does make it look like a scam, as this requires linear serialisation of exchanges with the subscription. As game development complexity rises exponentially, it is not the best tool. And T miss the mark to do a regular information update, here.
I know that "tip" culture is uncommon to most, the idea is "I use it, I like it, so I tip for it." No matter the dialogue or the type of "tips" you can give, I think it's a better way to see it today, as the game is fairly well autonomous, even if imperfect.
A developer who delivers a unique game where you can actively engage in convincing sexual activities deserves our full respect and "tips". We know that he is still working regularly on his game. And as we can stop our support or reward as we see fit, so there is no scam here.
Soly, the difficult context, we have described. This is without talking about what services should be more appropriate to finance this kind of project, or about what these projects cost. If anyone has an idea, I'm happy to hear it.