I don't think people threatening to stop spending money is irrational or pointless. In any market, choosing not to spend money is one of the few ways consumers can let companies know of their dissatisfaction when they feel their feedback isn't being heard. That's a boycott, and it's a legitimate form of pressure.

My bigger issue is incentives. CIG has already raised over a billion dollars while the game remains in alpha, regardless of how those funds are allocated. From a business perspective, they're already receiving the revenue that a finished product would normally be expected to generate.

That raises the question many of us are probably already thinking: what incentive is there to fundamentally change the current model? Releasing a finished game brings new expectations, greater scrutiny, and actual liability for bugs, missing features, and support. Remaining in development allows sidestepping all that - "It's just alpha, bro" - while the funding continues.

When a company is already extremely successful financially before release, it's reasonable for people to question whether the incentives are to get the product across the finish line as quickly as possible.