Ok, coming to this discussion late because most of my online time today was spent playing WoW (and fighting their server issues this evening I might add. grr.)

The prime reason I quit mudding on Realms of Despair was because I knew many, many players who had 'the best equipment real money could buy'. I heartily oppose the buying and selling of game equipment, money, or characters. I oppose it because it makes a game severely unbalanced, destroying both game economy and the fun of earning the bloody stuff for yourself.

I believe that if you cannot figure out how to get an item, or the game-money to pay for an item in the game then you shouldn't have that item. How fair is it to the countless thousands of us who spend hour after hour of our time trying to earn that ever elusive uberbuff piece of equipment that we've chased like a carrot placed before a mule when one need only look it up on ebay and pay out 40 bucks for it?

IMHO people who pay for game equipment or money are foolish. They're destroying the fun they should be having in the game - much like using cheats to beat something. If they pay rl money to play the game in the first place, shouldn't they actually PLAY instead of just buying everything they want? c'mon. RL time issues? Why did this person subscribe to the game in the first place if they knew they didn't have time to play it? Was the price of the subscription broken down to hour by hour for their actual time really worth it? Are they actually going to get to enjoy the equipment/money you've purchased for them? And you scammed the seller to boot? Yeesh. You both should be shot. Were I an admin of a game I'd ban both buyers and sellers on the spot, with no chance at ever returning to the game.

Or, to quoth an old friend of mine who's used for just that purpose,

Balzhur screams, "Buyerdude, your arse is MINE!"

Nuff said.

[edit just for TS] Bro, I pay to play simply because the necessity to pay limits the number if moronic idiots online there who are there simply to annoy. We still get them, but they're VASTLY lower in number. So far I've found only a very few who were mere annoyances, and a great number of serious players - both mkillers and pvp, as well as some solid roleplay. These players greatly enhance the (already incredible) game and make it extremely enjoyable. I can see how one could become so addicted as to spend their life playing such a game - it's a fight not to :P Will I continue to pay for my play? You betcha, right up to the point where I decide the value of the relaxation and enjoyment I receive from playing it is less than the money I pay.[/edit]