|
I don't actually know of any muds where players can "buy" their way to some objective top. It comes down to their being multiple "ladders" in a world. In Achaea, for example, you can purchase things to help you with one area of the game in which there is a 'top': combat. I wouldn't even know how to sell things to people that would enable success in politics (that's completely dependent on other people's opinion of you, and, in fact, buying a lot of stuff has -hurt- people in the political arena before) or roleplaying.
If the -only- 'ladder' in a game is the loot n' level ladder, then you're absolutely correct: People buy their way there with time. But it's a rare (and ****ty) game where that's the only ladder, even if that's the only ladder officially supported by code. It's hard to find even the most hardcore of loot n' level games where there aren't organically-grown 'ladders' of respect, for example. Time may have something to do with how other people look at you, but you could spend a ton of time and still be looked at as an idiot.
--matt
|