In another light, the same can be said another way...
Camp 1:
- You can make $500 million in profit by wringing it out of a smaller user base and charging them up the wazoo. They'll pay, because they want to, and they'll alienate those who don't want to pay. No big deal to the company, they have 4,000 customers.
Camp 2:
- You can make $500 million in profit by giving back to your players: giving them items that perhaps, another company would charge extra for, such as special events or items, but this camp does it for free. This company has a larger customer base, and thus charges less. However, this customer has 400,000 customers, and they charge a lot less, spreading the profit margin across a greater number of customers.
They key point we're making Sylvado, and folks can correct me if I am wrong... but, why be "Camp 1" with small amount of players, raping them for cash, when they can make the same amount of profit and have more players like those in "Camp 2" ? Sure, Camp 2 *could* charge what Camp 1 is, but then they might lose customers, possibly because of the price hike, thus dropping them down into the territory of Camp 1.
People will pay if they feel it is worth it. You are correct. But not everyone has a disposable income of $50+ per month for an online game. Justifiable or not, I would be willing to bet a years subscription to a popular MMO that *most* people in the world would not be paying members of "Camp 1". THAT is my personal point.