You know, statements like this has to be trolls. I get so infuriated by uninformed know-it-alls that just go "lol p2w" as soon as you have the option to buy anything in game.
Pay to win = You pay real life money to unlock a real advantage in game. An advantage that is most of the time ludicrously more powerful than anything free, simply to entice people to buy it. This advantage CANNOT be gotten for free by playing.
Free to play = Everything that affects game balance in anyway can be gotten for free, often through simply playing the game. Some games have ludicrously slow progression, but it's still all free. In game payment often involves "progression boosters" (such as XP boost or similar) or unlocking free things instantly instead over time.
Get your facts straight. Because this is really getting old. Free to play is NOT pay to win. In Shadow Era you can't even get anything exclusively with real life money. In Tribes Ascend, you can at least buy skins and voice packs for money only, Shadow Era has everything free over time.
I just want to chip in on this conversation real quick:
Pay to win is a caricature of a business model that I've never heard of, and probably doesn't exist. Any company that just blatantly gave out advantages for paying people probably wouldn't be around that long. That's not to say there aren't gaming developers out there who do this, I've just never heard of them.
Instead of calling it "pay to win", which like I said is more of an unrealistic caricature than anything, I think it's more honest to label it "Pay for an advantage". Also, I hate to bust the bubble of some people in this thread, but time is a resource, so if you have to "pay" time in order to progress, then you are using a finite resource in order to advance.
In a game that wasn't "pay for advantages", a person who had played for 24 hours could beat someone who had played for 1,000 hours if they were good enough. In games like League of Legends (which I'll use because I'm the most familiar with), this is basically impossible. A person with a level 5 character, and no runes, has almost no chance of being a level 30 Summoner with a full T3 rune set. Now you may argue that the game would never pair a level 5 with a level 30 (I think this is irrelevant, but I'll keep explaining for the sake of argument), but even with both characters at level 30, you can still pay for an advantage, whether with time or money.
I'll used "Ranked Play" as the example here since that's supposed to be the "competitive mode" of LoL. Now let's assume, for the sake of argument, that two players on opposite teams have played a similar amount of time (we'll say 1,000 hours), but one player has spent $100 on the game. With this extra $100, he has bought more champions, more rune pages, and several IP boosts so that he can unlock more runes. Because he has access to more champions, more runes, and more rune pages, he automatically has an advantage. Many people may argue here that this is
not an advantage since you can only take 1 champion and 1 rune page into the game with you, but variety
IS and advantage.
To give you an example, let's say that you and an opponent are about to face off in a virtual FPS match.
You can only take 1 weapon into the scenario with you. You have access to a 9mm handgun, a 12 gauge shotgun, a hunting rifle, an MP5 sub-machine gun, and a Bullpup assault rifle. Your opponent has access to a 9mm handgun, a Desert Eagle, a Glock, a 12 gauge shotgun, an automatic shotgun, a double-barreled shotgun, an MP5 SMG, a P90, an Uzi, a Hunting Rifle, a semi-automatic Sniper Rifle, a .50 caliber Sniper Rifle, a Bullpup, an M4, and an AK-47. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that all these weapons are balanced with one another - for example, a .50 caliber sniper rifle may be more powerful, but it's heavier, louder, more cumbersome, and harder to aim than the regular hunting rifle etc.
Now who here is going to argue that the person who has access to the bigger selection of weapons doesn't have an advantage? Nobody, and you would be crazy to do so. Variety IS an advantage. That's not to say that the person with a smaller selection can't win the fight if he's a better Marksman, but he is still at a disadvantage.
The different types of guns are like the different roles in LoL (shotgun, pistol, sniper rifle etc.). Yes, you can make due if you have 1 weapon of each role, but that doesn't mean you're going to be on an even footing with a person of several weapons of each role. Runes and rune pages exacerbate this problem even more, but might be the equivalent to having different types of ammunition, night vision goggles, kevlar armor, or something of that nature.
The point is, the person who has paid more, or played more, has an advantage no matter which way you slice it. You can't argue that they don't have an advantage, all you can argue about is how significant that advantage really is. Personally I think it's a major advantage, which is why I typically avoid "Pay for an advantage" type games.
