Problem isn't the developers.. well.. it is, yes, but, hear me out, the real problem is consumers enabling them. Think about it: all of these inactive patreon accounts would disappear nearly overnight if people stopped pumping money into them.
Actually, I think this is only part of a larger problem. There have been several Patreon projects that have ended up this way because people allow them too and the system doesn't discourage this behavior from the project owner or help patrons point out inactive owners. But I think the real problem, which I think has been said before, is that there is no accountability for the project owner to deliver a completed project, and I think that this is due to a lack of communication amongst the project's community, and the way Patreon's system encourages "continual" development.
I don't have strong evidence for this claim, but I'm going to assume that a lot of people that support projects don't actively check them that often, especially if they are only pledging $1 - $5 and are not in a position where they might need to be all that aware of their financial spending. I think that this can lead to either:
1.) people forgetting that they're even supporting a project,
2.) people only checking in when big changes or updates happen, if this never occurs it could lead to situation 1, or
3.) people assuming that the lack of communication is just the project owner working hard on the next release, and continues supporting hoping that the project is going well. So in other words, Patreon relies on the patrons themselves checking up on the project owners to see how the project is going and it doesn't punish owners for being silent or not making any posts for an extended period of time ( let's say 2 months if their project is taking in money). I think if patron sent an email or something similar to the emails when owners make updates stating "xxxxxx hasn't posted anything in x weeks/months... Get in touch and ask them what's up? ( go to community tab)" could go a long way of patrons checking in on owners and seeing if the investment is worth it. But in order for this to work for all patrons, there would need to be some way for patrons to discuss the project with other patrons and the owner in an easy way. discord works, but isn't mandatory, and I would recommend a chat board or something, but spam and hateful comments could be an issue which would require unbiased mods which is too large an undertaking. Maybe something like Facebook where it shows stats for the project such as: "This Patreon responds to messages on average of 10 minutes" or " This Patreon averages 3 posts per month" at the top of the page so new potential/ previous patrons can see how reliable they are.
Really it just comes down to a lack on communication the system requires for an owner to run a project and relies on the patrons to hold the owner responsible to results with very limited information and communication. It also doesn't help that Patreon forces you to be a patron if you want to see any NSFW post the project owner makes on their patreon. Public posts with NSWF content is forbidden due to Patreon's guidelines and plays more into patrons being left in the dark on the project.
I also personally think that the way Patreon os set up, it turns good devs into bad devs. In other words it doesn't reward good project habits , but instead rewards bad habits. If you pitch a project and see money flow in, as a dev, you're tempted to increase the scale of the project in accordance to the money you receive. We see this all the time with Kickstarter projects even in "professional indie" development titles like Mighty No. 9 where after the money comes in, the devs make bigger promises on what the game will be. This in turn drives hype amongst the patrons and more money flows in, feeding into the cycle of increased scope. Rarely are game documents made that limits the scope of the project, so devs are tempted to add bell and whistles the game might not even need whenever they feel inspired since they feel like there are no restrictions. This is also doubly bad because since there isn't a game doc the patrons have access to, they never really know when projects are close to being done or not, which prevents them on holding the dev responsible to what they previously scoped the game at. Basically, Patroen on is set up so the dev basically has an infinite budget once they get a good amount of money going as long as they keep their patrons and there game is "in development". Then to make matters worse, the dev that increased the scope of the game is almost certain to reach burnout when they either realize
A.) The additions are causing a lot more problems than they thought.
B.) If they increased the team size, they now have a host of other team management problems to make sure they stay on top of. Or
C.) Since the game wasn't restrained to certain requirements, smaller accomplishments like "fixed a bug with text displaying incorrectly" don't feel as significant as "finished the first h-scene!" and the dev feels like they aren't doing enough work. So they end up overextending themselves trying to get more done, and eventually get burnt out when they lose inspiration on the idea.
Long story short, the project can stall due to unforeseen problems from the project that either stem from the devs lack of experience of making projects on this scale, not creating restraints for the game via a game document or something similar, or from their lack of proper project management in general.
The BIGGEST ISSUE though is what happens when a dev reaches burnout or a project stalls in Patreon's system. What the dev SHOULD do is state to his patrons that the project isn't going smoothly or that they are running into problems and either ask for help from the community, discuss solutions with their patrons, or even stop taking in money while they sort things out to maintain trust with their patrons if needed. Even if they lose patrons in the short term, talking with their patrons and finding solutions to these problems will both help by preventing mistakes like this from happening in future projects and get them more patrons when they are a more competent dev. However, the way patreon is set up, there is no downside to letting a project stall a bit, and the doing one of the following: A.) cut communication with people for an extended period of time while taking money, but then come back with a small update saying that "I'm working, bigger things on the horizon!" even though the amount of time to make said update doesn't match the work output. Do this indefinitely. B.) State that a demo or update is on the horizon, and basically push it back continuously, all the while drip feeding content so they can claim more work is being "done" in the background. Taking money in during the entire process. Or C.) State that "I need to go back and redo previous assets since I've grown as a dev and want this game to be the best it can be", instead of focusing on making new content and delivering a final product in a timely manner.This will usually end up drastically increasing development time and can be done indefinitely.
To summarize, instead of developing good project management habits, Patroen's system rewards decisions that extend development time, rather than focus on delivering a final product. This is what I personally think leads to Patreon stories like this and Breeding Season as there is no proper incentive to deliver a product, rather your encouraged to be in a state of continually developing a product and abuse the fact that there is a large gap of communication between you and your audience if you want there to be one.
Now I don't want to state that this is all the devs fault because
making games is hard, project management is hard, team management is hard, following Patreon guidelines and working accordance to laws where you live is hard, staying motivated is hard, marketing your project and keeping clients informed is hard, and trying to do all of it at once full or part time and juggling life problems is going to be REALLY hard. Devs also aren't machines so there should be some room for mistakes, breaks, and time off for tragedies or real life stuff. That's why I have a lot of respect for consistant Patreons that do surveys, have active devs that talk to their patrons, try to be as open as possible with their project, and have discord communities so their patrons can discuss with each other and them. But rarely are these actions rewarded or encouraged by both Patroen and their respective communities. I think actions like these should be more rewarded from devs and could be another "Patreon stat" that's displayed at the top of the page like I mentioned before. Also, it's hard to really find the root of the problem since Patreon supports multiple types of creators so the argument "it's used as a tip jar" or "you're supporting the artist, not the product" can work in some situations, but definitely not in others.
I don't personally have any contact with Patreon, but I don't we will see any major changes with how things are ran any time soon. I think the best thing we can do right now, is try to increase communication on sites like ULMF and other forums and positively contribute to discussions like these and try to hold devs accountable to creating a finished product and being more transparent with the affairs of their game.
TL;DR Patroen's system can have a huge gap in communication if the project owner wants there to be one. Especially since Patroen forces you to be a patron in order to see any NSFW posts a creator makes. And patrons that aren't savvy on game development can be abused through this lack of information and communication from a dev and other patrons as there are several ways devs can stall out the project with no real consequence since proper project management handling is not rewarded or enforced in any way, while they rake in the money. Sorry for the novel lol
