Re: What Does "Fair" Mean?
In my view, a level playing field is primarily one where the players can compete on equal footing, with the same in-game power level. Ideally this would be one where everyone pays the same amount (i.e., nothing, or a fixed monthly fee), but that doesn't have to be the case.
For example, suppose you had a PK mud where it took 100 hours or $100 to reach maximum potential (or some combination thereof, with $1 being the equivilent of 1 hour of play). While I wouldn't be overly fond of such a system, I would still consider it reasonably "fair", because players could reach exactly the same level of power with a realistic investment of either time or money - and then they'd be on equal footing with each other.
On the other hand, I wouldn't consider a game "fair" if you can purchase bonuses that are unavailable to non-paying customers - for example, in some muds the best equipment in the game is only available via payments, and is locked to your character (so you can't even trade with paying customers; if you don't pay, you can't compete).
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