Hi Mr Compassionate. I don't think I've seen you around these forums before today so before I address your post, let me just say "Welcome". :)

First, the game crash upon exit is a well known bug and has been the mortal enemy of the devs since it was first found several weeks ago. Thankfully, they've figured it out and this issue will be fixed when the settlements update goes live in a few weeks from now.

Your other concern is actually two different things, so we'll do them in order.

Godus is meant to portray a table top game which is being played by gods. Have you ever watched Jason and the Argonauts? The gods in that film interacted with the world via a chess-like board game in which people were the playing pieces. Today, the most popular table top games all seem to contain cards, which is why Godus has them. Also, the original Populous games were also meant to portray table top games being played by the gods and this is a partial nod to them as well. Please check out this thread which goes into more detail on the topic. Jack Attridge (one of 22Cans designers), tweeted about it as well.

Finally, 22Cans isn't "risking" anyone's money. Customers are just that - customers. Customers - even Early Access or Kickstarter customers - aren't investors. As a customer, you give a company your money and in return you get a product. And that's exactly what has happened here. You bought into Early Access and were given access to Godus which includes updates and the finished product once it's released.