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I believe there's more to it than just that. I really don't think players are any less patient now than they were five or ten years ago. On the other hand, there is no question that the average age of computer gamers (and, I'd assume, mudders as well) is going up. A result of this: more players with full-time jobs and/or families who perhaps prefer games in which the key element to success is not the availability of ridiculous amounts of time in which to play said games. For these players, buying shortcuts isn't laziness, it's very likely seen by them as conducive to their enjoyment and essential to their ability to compete with their college-aged fellow gamers.
Out of curiousity, what do these examples have to do with anything? Nobody has suggested (until now, I guess) that IRE or any other commercial games listed on Topmudsites actually scam their players into paying for things they didn't want.
Yes, that's what is generally known as "a good business practice" TM. Just about every good or service you have ever purchased was probably sold to you by people operating or attempting to operate in accordance with similar practices.
Yes, another "good business practice." Provide potential customers with a free sample so that they will purchase goods and services from you later. This is a completely above-board practice that is well-understood by consumers who generally view it as a convenient way to test drive what they might soon be paying for.
First off, if I can play a game for free, it is not "desinformation" for the game to advertise itself as free to play. "Free to play" means just that: I can log in and play for free. It doesn't mean will enjoy purchaseable perks. It doesn't mean I will get to take shortcuts available to people who pay for those shortcuts. I means I can play the game and not pay to play it. How hard is that to understand? It's as valid a use of the word "free" as would be "Buy one, get one free" (even though this is really just buying two of something at half-price) or "Get one month of X for free" (even though your free month of X is being subsidized by the other customers of the company that is offering X). These are all senses of free that are clearly understood by consumers. No reasonable person takes advantages of such offers and then argues that they've been scammed because further enjoyment of the products or services made available through these offers will now cost money.
Before IRE was advertising here, people were whinging about other commercial games with straight-forward subscription models. Before that, in the earliest incarnation of this site, people were whinging that Realms of Despair was dominating the mud list because it was a rank, unimaginative dikurivative that appealed to the lowest common denominator in order to garner a huge playerbase. I think ethics have always had less to do with such complaints than have sour grapes.
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