On Patreon it is claimed that... All acts protracted in this game are between fictional consenting adults.
Inside the game the girls lost all their civil rights and are kind of imprisoned in the school area. When they consent to HM's punishment... this is not really a voluntarily agreement.
I think there are probably two answers to this.
The first is with a nod and a wink to the Patreon rules. You know, like all those totally-not-incest games around here, with hot “step moms” and “close childhood friends” who have lived in your house since they were born and have a parental-style relationship with your Mom and Dad, but are definitely not your sister, honest.
The other is a longer, more philosophical answer.
To start with, I think we need to consider the definition of consent. For example, the Merriam-Webster definition includes “agreement, compliance or acquiescence”, and Funk & Wagnalls defines it as “to yield voluntarily; accede; acquiesce”. Your definition of consent comes from Wikipedia, which cites the Oxford English Dictionary, but the OED’s full definition includes “to acquiesce or agree; compliance”. In short, all 3 dictionaries include the concept of passive submission within their definition of consent.
This makes sense to me. Lots of people who work McJobs consent to wearing humiliating uniforms, working crappy hours, and putting up with shit from managers, staff and customers. It doesn’t mean they like it; but they accept it because the alternative – not having a job – is worse. Another example would be a judge who lets a young offender join the army instead of going to jail. It doesn’t mean that the teenage offender actually wants a drill sergeant screaming in his face at 3am; but it’s still better than dropping the soap in front of Bubba in the shower. So he consents to joining the army.
In this game, it’s made clear that the girls can leave if they want, but that the penalties for doing so (losing their civil rights for the rest of their life) are so terrible that they are (reluctantly) prepared to put up with a year or two of being stripped, spanked and humiliated until they pass their exams.
Which is the main point: you can hate something, you can even fear it, but at the same time you can still voluntarily consent to it. Because the alternative is worse.
This concludes today's philosophical discussion. Can we get back to spanking hot schoolgirls now please?