I too fully believe in paying my own way. I have 2 accounts, so obviously felt that the value I was getting was well worth the money.

But let me give you something further to think about.

The rest of the game world has set the stage for peoples expectations. Most of them have open beta tests when they feel the game is ready to be seen, and then a free trial to see if the game is your cup of tea afterwards.

This game however is not your average game nor is this company average. As a small independent game company I truly believe what they have accomplished is quite amazing. And many of us will agree with that comment. However, most of us are also not average players.

Most of those "average" players are upset because they perceive this game as any other. It should be free if still in beta ( which is how many view prelude ) and at least should have a free trial. It really does not matter that it was openly published the nature of prelude or that things are MEANT to change and improve. They have already been trained by all the other games they have played.

Atm, Jordi and his team are in a very tough spot. They really need to implement the changes he last mentioned to improve the over all playability and retention factors to give the game a chance of success.

The majority of current players have been here almost a year after release, and only now see them closing in on what they needed to do at release. This has caused much of the reactions you are seeing now.

Paying for the game now after not being charged is not actually like sneeking in to the theater. In reality it is more like the management of the theater was simply letting some folks in and not charging others. They all came in through the front door.

I personally agree with you china, that I would rather pay to get the benefit of playing here. But can you really blame someone for taking advantage of free time IF its what the owners gave them? isn't that exactly what a free trial is all about? And if they messed up on the billing system and chose to not bill everyone until it was fixed, that certainly not the players fault.

I also agree that if the reason a player not complains is because they have to play, after knowing what the scoop is, well, then I don't have a lot of compassion for them. Shoot, I even complained because I was NOT paying for one of my accounts.