With patreon and other similar sites, you can always support little money per developer (1$ per month, for example), which means 12 * 10 = 120$ for a 10-year game (I guess this could be a reasonable development time). Are you ok with paying this money for a game?
Within 10 years I spent way more for single games that offered content worth playing for 10 years (I have to multiply that because I still have to find a game that is worth playing for 10 years. The one that might have been worth it was shut down after 6 years). For that amount of money you can get a lot more than what you get on Patreon.
What is a "10 year game anyway"? A game that has been in production for 10 years? Such games are usually complete disasters (Duke Nukem anyone?). A novel being written for such a long time without interruption ... 5000 pages? more?
I rather make a one time payment than subscriptions. Compare a VN to a book. Would you rather pay 1$ each month getting 3-4 pages each month or pay 15$ for the complete novel?
Because the usual update of these games, hardly any game has more content than that. And I am not talking about monthly updates, no Sir. Worst example: In an update of a game I should not name here(according to forum rules), MC walks down the stairs, gets a glass of water, sees his 'Landlady' having fun in the bathroom. The. End. (of that update). If you inflate that like good writers do, you can maybe squeeze half a page out of it. This was the work that was done in three months.
Sure, it was a animation sequence well done, high quality, but really ... this happens if you get carried away as a dev.
I am developing software as well (not games, although I was in the scene for a while in my spare time, also wrote some AIF, nothing too serious tho), I too have big ideas about what I could integrate into my product and I too have to set priorities. Customers are waiting for certain functions, so I have to focus on them.
If everyone did this ... well, then Patreon would be gone and devs would have to start thinking a bit more professionally. We would have less games, but made in a more serious way and not abandoned after a few months because not enough people keep paying.
The allegations of devs milking customers would end.
We would have less games, but made in a more professional way.
The demo scene would flourish once again
Chicken would lay cubic eggs, easier to store.
World hunger would end
Gasoline would be free
... it's not gonna happen anyway, so yes, I can keep dreaming.
For my part, I would very much welcome fewer better games compared to that huge mountain of mediocre products.
Really, I don't care if "everyone" does that or not. I do. I buy games - a LOT of them. I put more money into the industry than many others. But I don't pay for promises on a regular base.
If people want to keep complaining about getting milked, so be it.
