itch.io

Sure... but "too lazy to cancel" does not equate to anyone ripping someone off... just sayin'. Seriously, there is literally nothing preventing the cancel of a membership... one could even stop payment on whatever card you use. LOL... nobody is being held against their will-- if you visit the discord, you'll see that everyone there that contributes to the Patreon is fine with this. There's no smoke and mirrors, here... the ones that seem to make the most noise are the ones that never paid a dime. Generally, it's a bullying tactic designed to hurry things along... they want their free game. There are probably a few of members that got sick of waiting and canceled-- they're entitled to their opinion, but donations are donations. As I recall, they can even  petition Patreon to get money back, if they genuinely believe Komi is operating in bad faith, but I'm not certain about how that works. I support a few different devs, and only had to be refunded by one (Heavenly Peaks Cultivation) and honestly I don't remember much of the process, as it was a while ago. 

Bottom line: nobody was forced or even coerced, and they can choose to cancel at any time. I think this is actually part of the reason the finished product will remain free here: Komi knows it's taken an age, and knows there are folks unhappy about that... those folks, whether they contributed or not, can come back for their free copy when it does release... no fuss, no muss. Simple. The ones who continue to contribute are obviously happy with the pace, and hold faith based on how big the first part of the game is (probably)... there may be some who are just too lazy to cancel, or forgot about it entirely (they may well be contributing an amount small enough that they don't even notice-- who knows) but rest assured: there is nothing stopping anyone from cancelling their membership if they wish, and they will still get the same copy of the game everyone else gets when it finally releases.

I've said it before (maybe a bit more abrasively, but you make a valid point, so I'm trying not to say it in a way that angered so many others) but it's often something people don't think about: The nature of the Patreon transaction is strictly as a donation. Nobody is actually buying a product, or exchanging money for service. The end result might be your name in the credits as one of the benefactors, but in the end, the game you get isn't something you bought... it's free. It kinda has to be, because of the assets used; it's one of the reasons you can't put a monetized version of any game made with KK, KKP, or KKS (Illusion games) on Steam. It's a licensing thing.

I hope this helps. Have a good one.