Criticism and piracy. Lack of support too.
While I know what you mean, I have to disagree on all of those points.
Criticism is a valuable tool. Obviously online we have to deal with sifting through the useless garbage takes, there are sometimes valuable objective critiques that you can note and implement to potentially improve the product.
Piracy is shitty, but it isn't all bad, especially in this sphere.
I actually found a certain game through a site that had uploaded it without permission. While still kind of in it's infancy I ended up really enjoying it. Long story short I found the author and even ended up working with him on the game. I had given him a small donation and he mentioned that he could use the help.
Unfortunately this story and encounter turns pretty sour and the author ended up screwing me and the rest of the team over, if it wasn't for the site I never would have found out about the game
He also went on to be one of the first to try to implement DRM into his game (hilariously poorly for the first handful of chapters I might add) and all that ended up doing was create unnecessary hassle for actual subscribers and supporters. And who would of guessed that this shifted from wanting to put out a quality product to only being interested in money. Anyone that has been around awhile probably knows.
It's very true people are woefully ignorant as to how much time goes into creating these. I would definitely encourage everyone to throw even a dollar or two at a creator when they push out an update. It goes a long way.
To anyone that genuinely and strictly freeloads reading this - you've probably come across a game you've enjoyed that ended up getting stagnant, dwindling, or ceased updating completely. Majority of the time it's because it's hard to justify the time and return. Passion isn't an all purpose fuel. While there have no doubt been some bad actors and abusers of good faith and charity, you shouldn't let that thwart you from supporting something that gave you enjoyment and satisfaction, even if it's a paltry amount.
ps. Ketzal has arguably the best work on this site, you should check it out if you haven't already