It makes me feel like I'm trying to beg for donations really, and I've had people (mostly people I've sent from social media who don't know itch.io well) think they had to donate to get the game. 

I think I've either submitted an issue relating to this or commented on one. Essentially a lot of people see "name your price" and think it is required.

I think rather than having a form in the page, having two buttons "Download" and "Donate" which open the downloads directly and the standard donate form would be a nice option.