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In another thread, Hephos asked which sort of payment model people would prefer - monthly subscription, pay-for-perks, or a combination thereof. He's since removed his post, but I'd already put together a reply, so rather than discard it I've decided to start a new thread.
Assuming 'completely free' isn't an option, my personal preferences - ordered from most acceptable to least acceptable - are as follows:
1. Pay for cosmetic fluff (eg renamed equipment, a fancy title, etc).
2. Pay for variety (eg you can be a warrior for free, or a knight for $10, but both classes are equally powerful).
3. Pay to compensate for lost time (eg you can buy the equivilent of 10 hours worth of exp each week for a maximum cost comparible with a typical pay-to-play mud, but cannot buy more hours than you've played that week, and the total of played plus bought cannot exceed 40 hours).
4. One-off registration payment after trial period.
5. Pay-to-play (with no further costs). Could also be optional (pay-for-play means you get something better, but the condition is boolean - you can't keep paying to get more. Either you pay the flat monthly rate for the better character, or you don't pay anything and have the weaker character).
6. Pay for enhanced advancement (eg you can pay to earn double exp).
7. Pay for advantages that can also be earned through regular play (eg buy gold, standard magic items).
8. Pay for advantages that can replace regular play (eg buy exp, levels, skills, etc).
9. Pay for advantages that cannot be earned through regular play (eg special magic items, a means to raise skills beyond what is possible through regular play, etc).
10. Pay for non-transferable advantages that cannot be earned through regular play (eg directly purchasing skill enhancements, items locked to the wearer, etc).
If combining pay-to-play with any of the options from 6 to 10, add '0.5'.
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