Re: Akabur - Magic Shop
I'm part of that 5000 - and yes, technically, I'm giving him money and getting nothing (directly) in return.
(Except perhaps access to his website gallery, if I got off my lazy arse and messaged him for an account...)
Could he be collecting money and doing nothing? Totally.
However, I don't believe so. His videos are convincing enough, and he has a history of turning out pretty dang solid work.
Solid work takes time to accomplish, though, and releasing incremental one-more-CG betas every week would ruin the result, making me tired of the game before it's even done.
I trust that if we do our part and keep a roof over his head, he'll do his and provide us with quality games and images.
You could complain that he's not cranking things out with the speed of, say, a Zone or a Vanja. Then again, his releases are a bit larger, too.
As far as I've seen from interacting with him via email, he's a pretty solid hard worker and thorough.
It's a one-man-shop. These tend to take a while (thinking of Kyrieru, or most japanese H-devs I know, though some of them have day jobs).
There's probably things he could speed up, no doubt. He draws most of his stuff on paper, which isn't the easiest for animation. His code is a bit clunky at times.
But he's the only one I know who makes the stuff he does at the quality level he does. So I'm willing to leave him puttering at his work, and trust he'll learn over time.
I'm happy with the deal I'm getting. If you're not and you're contributing money, make it less money. That's how that works.
If you're unhappy and not actually contributing in any way, I'm not sure what to tell you. Maybe try paying double what you do now, and see if it'll help?