[Threshold]

Exactly. And that is why it would be a titantic mistake to *CREATE* flame fodder.

Everyone here who makes games knows this implicitly. You do not release into your game things that you KNOW IN ADVANCE will be abused, misused, and will create chaos. It just doesn't make sense.

As a player, I'd be pretty annoyed when I searched for games where payments were not "rewarded in game" and then found out that people who buy merchandise get faster customer service or get the "admin's ear" more easily. And honestly, there is no way you can guarantee that such things don't happen.

The 4 option list creates an implicit guarantee to the player using the search options that the information is correct. That makes it infinitely worse than the obvious marketing blurb being something other than what a player expected.

The status quo is better than deliberately creating something that is completely ambiguous, vague, and frankly, deceptive.