Here's the thing about this service industry comparison. If I order a medium well steak and the chef sends out a half-thawed slab of meat -- much like SE promised a game in 2010 and shipped out the shell of one -- I'm going to reject it.

If the chef comes out then and tells me my steak is now half done I'm not going to grovel at their feet. I'm paying a price for them to provide a service.

The same goes for game designers. They work for people who set a price that is expected to justify a level of service.

In the case of XIV, SE has offered us half-priced appetizers (v1.x) while they cook our steak (v2.0).

I don't feel I owe them any extra thank you. They gave me a choice to pay a discount for filler while I wait longer for what should have been done correctly the first time. I chose to take them up on that and that's the end of it.

I respect SE for what they're doing. They could have pulled the plug on XIV and swept it under the rug. But they chose to do right by their customers. But that doesn't mean we owe them any debt or gratitude. They screwed up, not us.