so I take it neither of you have been in sales, or taken an economics class?
When I had simplistic notion of consumer rights drudged into me buy my hippy teachers in Canada, I probably would have agreed with you.
what you refer to as a "reasonably objective estimation" is more often called a "comp". A "comparable price".
Cleve wants to make $250,000 off his game if we use his Indiegogo. What he got was $10,598.
As an unmade game, people valued the game in total as $10,598 less the refunds he gave out. What they were buying was a promise a game would be made by him. Those folks who contributed money for a promise did not perceive the actual game should be less than $40 because there was no actual game yet.
Do you see the disconnect young paduan? Luiji and Pongo both thought $36 was a price they were willing to pay. Some people would buy it at $4. Some would not buy it at all.
What Cleve is doing, since he wants his $250,000 dollerydoos is making a sales pitch that its a 600 hour game, with 64 interactive PC's, etc. These are the sales points that where he's trying to give the game "added value" to make you see its worth $40 and to make $36 sound like a discount when it fact its simply the price. Because a price is a price.
Any sense of betrayal, well that's on the individual. Simply don't buy it, or use it to negotiate a lower price. That's on you. That's your psychology in a nutshell.