[Trampled by Lambs]

I'm a long time MMO game player.. (currently playing World of Warcraft) I've never understood why anyone would pay real cash for in-game items (or high level characters etc.)

Isn't the acquisition of these things the point of playing the game? Hell, why not buy the game then pay the kid down the street to play it for you?

[faloi]

Isn't the acquisition of these things the point of playing the game?

One could make a point that if the game is so boring or tedious that someone would spend real money to get the items instead of spending time in game, that's a good sign it's time to find a new game. Unfortunately in a lot of MMOGs, the time spent playing seems to be tied to the difficulty of the game in a lot of players minds. That is to say, it takes a long time to get something, so the game must be harder. I've never understood this logic. Taking a lot of time to do something because you get lucky once and the critter drops the item you're after does not make a game hard or challenging. Just...well...time consuming.