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[Stegersaurus]

I actually think this is a fine idea from a design perspective. Monetarily I can't even guess whether it would have a good attach rate or not.

People here seem to forget that every once in a while we have game-dev competitions, where.... surprise surprise... the people running the competition choose the THEME of all the games made. AGHAST! Giving up any modicum of control is unacceptable! Constraints make room for creativity. Writers sometimes will put characters in awkward situations so that they can figure out a way to "write their way out of it" as a thought exercise. It can be interesting to not "quite" know which direction you're going to be moving in next. You put the choices up make sure things don't go in ridiculous directions, but any choice that YOU put up at the end of the day should be "acceptable" to you. If your game ends up being a Noir styled game that stars a cross-dressing detective who solves puzzles by a batman style utility-belt those were all options you let people vote on. Though, if your mind is set of "Theme is serious business!" it might not be a good idea for you to do this, since part of the fun of such social games (yes, voting is a social game to me in this context) is having those more interesting directions.

One idea I might propose is to take it a step further. We see a lot of "pay what you want" game promotions going on right? So.... why not hook THAT into the voting system? That is, by buying the game (pre-ordering), you're also buying votes. Suddenly it's a game they feel more vested in BECAUSE they've already bought the game, so they'll want to see it go in their direction of choice. Having them pre-own the unmade game gives the players a higher sense of possession over it.

[Ben_Hurr]

At worst this sounds like a cash-grab or potential scam.

Pay to make design suggestions?  What exactly compels me to finish this fictional game if I've managed to con players out of hundreds of thousands of dollars? 

[FrankieSmileShow]

I dont think it could really work as a scam. For this to even work to begin with, you need an existing fanbase, and you need to show a lot of progress in the game to get people to be confident enough to start donating. Quitting the game's development after taking money away from the players would ruin your reputation.

A fanbase big enough and confident enough in your work that you can get a significant amount of money from their donations is worth a lot more than the money you could scam out of them to begin with. These people are pretty much all certain to purchase your game when it comes out; they have already invested in it.
And holy shit, if you could already get to HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS from their small 1-5$ donations, that must be a gigantic monster of a fan base. Throwing this away for a quick buck would be an enormous waste! Building any fanbase at all is already a lot of work!

[mindtoygames]

I did this with my Arcadia project (about 5 years ago now) and it did not work really, for many reasons. First off, life interceded with lots of personal junk happening that sparked delays.

http://www.mindtoygames.com/arcproject.html

Most of all, I agreed that doing this ceded some control over the game design to people with a paying interest, not always very balanced in terms of making the best, cohesive game possible.

I did it mainly because at the time, I really felt it was a bold experiment in getting the best possible looking and sounding game to the players without breaking my own bank. I got coverage with various game sites, etc. but also sales were not great really: I only got 42 total sales at $12.95 ($7 off the proposed full price), and it wasn't enough to fund the game really.

I'd say tread carefully if you choose this route of making a game. A large fanbase is necessary, along with lots of discipline to stay on course.