Suing a non-profit that you donated to seems really dishonest to me. If you're willing to sue them, then why did you donate to them in the first place? just to get a shirt? If that was your aim, why didn't you actually just buy a shirt? This is obviously not completely analogous to a game kickstarter, but it sums up my opinion.
I generally approach crowdfunding contributions as no-strings-attached donations, like you and many others. However, this is not how Kickstarter presents crowdfunding. Under the old set (pre-2014) there was actually this stipulation:
"Project Creators are required to fulfill all rewards of their successful fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill."
This is extremely harsh for projects where the reward is the end result of the project. A t-shirt, art book or soundtrack can be delivered even if a project fails, but it is very difficult to deliver a game or gadget that for whatever reasons the project simply could not complete.
I guess this is why it was changed to the current "Accountability" section of the Terms of Use. This section is much softer, but does require the developer to maintain a high standard of communication, disclosing financial information (ie how the backer funds were spent), and to maintain complete honesty in all communications to backers.
Both under the old and new Terms of Use, I find it perfectly reasonable why some people would have a different angle than you and me. Kickstarter very clearly does not present itself as a platform for no-strings-attached donations. In fact they expressly state that there is accountability.
Personally, the only privilege I require for my contribution to a project is the right to bitch and moan if the project doesn't uphold reasonable ethical standards. But on the other hand, consumer protection laws (and contract law) exist for very serious reasons. An agreement has to matter if the weakest actors in an economy are to be protected. Crowdfunding is no exception to the rule of law. Thus, I strongly believe authorities and backers have a right to take legal action when an agreement is broken.
But in this specific case: I think any kind of legal action against KDG would be absurd, and a case of kicking someone who is already down. However, backers have every right to be angry, upset and/or sad at the developers. Not for lack of progress or missing deadlines. But for not adhering to a higher standard of communication.
In the end (and that's specific to this project), my disappointment is primarily with Kickstarter and how they present themselves as something they are not. In practice there is zero accountability, and that should be made very clear to backers. It is my opinion that Kickstarter itself is misrepresenting the nature of their platform, and this is at the core of disagreements such as the one in the previous couple of posts.