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You've got a lot to learn about MUDs if you believe anything of what you said. Viagra MUDs like the IRE games are pay-for-perks but it could equally be said that they're "Pay-to-succeed" since they do provide an instant advantage. You don't have to spend the time to achieve things in-game, time which can be spent doing other things that gain advantages in-game. That creates an imbalance. Because you could spend 500 hours gaining gold/eq and then 500 hours gaining other less-tangible resources or you could spend $1000 on the credits and only need spend the full 1000 hours gaining the latter. That's an advantage because the credits save you time and that time equates into an advantage. That's why your statement is false. The playing field is not even, regardless of how much you'd like to believe it is.
And not "every MUD out there is pay-for-perks" since some, like RPIs aren't about eq and gold but about RP. Any external advantage is frowned upon (it may occur, but it's policed so aside from information, it's more difficult to attain) since it violates and ruins the atmosphere of the RP. And money changing hands for information is even less likely than for "eq" or "gold" in-game. Now, the main part of this discussion hasn't been about RPIs, but regardless, most non-RPI MUDs tend to discourage out-of-game transactions like the kind you refer to (in fact, the H&S I used to play had a policy of banning anyone caught doing it). Your statement demonstrates a cynical lack of awareness regarding the ethics of the MUDding community or at least demonstrates a curious ethical standard that you hold and have been exposed to.
Take care,
Jason
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