Notch and Weasel should get together. They're both pretty chill.
http://notch.tumblr.com/post/607253660/replying-to-criticism-and-a-short-summary

Wait, what are we looking at?

i have always like this game. can i participate?

The entire blog post, really. Specifically the bit focusing on people bitching at him.

if he was a professional operation taking pre-orders (ie EA or a major production house), customers would be shitting bricks and suing if a product that was promised wasn't delivered.

indie gamers have it easy. /eyes data.

you think if people paid in advance for MW2 and the project was scrapped people wouldn't be clamoring for heads to roll? think again pal.

Not like he has ever said he wouldn't finish it or anything.

Or like he ever gave us a definite release date of the finished game.

Pre-ordered products from major production houses don't usually have fully working versions out for customers to use. I don't know of any, actually, feel free to find one though.

EDIT: I suppose open beta's could be considered released copies, but that's usually well toward the end of the production life cycle, when maybe 80-90% of the game's features have been finished. Minecraft doesn't even have a finalized list of features.

and thats because major houses don't need to release awful pre-releases to bring in potential customers and revenue.

people buy and opt-in with call of duty because it is a revered franchise from a legitimate maker.

[indie game x] lacks both, and as such has to drive purchases through early exposure.

youre comparing apples and oranges. my argument is still valid: this business model is only acceptable with indie developers. for some reason we think its okay to buy into incomplete products.

if i want to play halfsie on things im buying, i'll go play freeware stuff. if im forking money out, it best be polished.

Usually when you preorder nowadays, you get to participate in a beta.

You answered your own argument?

And if your argument is that games should only come from established businesses because they have established customer bases and capital, then I don't see how the industry would sustain itself. A company has to start from somewhere, after all, and large development houses have collapsed in upon themselves before.

And anyway, I thought that was the basis for most startup companies, they would develop a product partially, then open up demos for potential investors to hopefully attract capital.

*Duh102 wins, fatality!*

But yeah, seriously, if notch didn't sell the unfinished product, how would he get the funds to finish it? Your point is, therefore, null and void.

you would be very very wrong.

you have pitches, yes. you have prototypical products, yes. you do not open those products up to wholesale consumption (which is what is going on here). you pitch to VCs and entrepreneurs about the potential of a product and they fund your project. you don't say "give me money and there may or may not be a finished project at the end." think nothing of how bad a developer looks when they abandon a project in general terms--that's out of scope.

you could go and say that people pre-ordering and opting into betas would be considered venture capitalists, but there are still promissory notes and contracts guaranteeing a product--which is not the case.

anyway, my argument and opinion is: its crazy to put money into something with out any kind of expectation of gain. sure, if I pay $X i will receive Y product, beta or otherwise.

but the way i see it is: why drop $X on a product with no guarantees when I can spend just as much money on a professional product?

indie cred? no thanks.

disclaimer: above is opinions interlaced with facts. this is not an argument of "rightness" or "wrongness." its just a discussion of how people think that an economy (the economy of video entertainment) should be conducted. there is no FATALITY here

tl;dr i think the indie gaming model of pay-to-potentially-play is flawed and is certainly subordinate to the major production companies.

Alrighty then. In any case, I don't regret my investment so whatever happens I'm cool with it.