[the_logos]

Well, your personal opinion aside, where's the evidence for this as the meaning of free? It's a lot more productive to talk about how the word IS used in culture rather than how you wish the word was used.

That is flat-out untrue. All sorts of organizations do fund-raising drives where you donate and in return get a package of stuff. Nobody calls these anything but donations, including the government tax agencies. For instance, National Public Radio frequently does fund-raising drives where you donate variable amounts and get variable packages of stuff as a thank you.

What does buying an advantage over other players have to do with free? You're talking about perceived fairness now. The two don't have anything to do with each other.

Again, that's to do with your personal perception of fairness, not whether something is free or not.

--matt