It’s exactly the same reason people pay for fashion. The clothes don’t provide practical benefit, yet people still pay 100x more for branding.
And you can’t hack this because these are multiplayer games.
And you can’t hack this because these are multiplayer games.
I grew up in lower middle class area and i saw it A LOT. To me it seems less like classism and more tribal or human nature.
Unless by certain tax bracket you mean poverty in which case yeah _maybe_ fashion stops mattering then, but I don't have any experience with that.
How do you know they are in certain tax bracket though? Do you ask everyone on the street about their taxes? Or maybe you're assuming their tax bracket on how they dress? :)
That's because that's pretty much exactly what it is. It's a signaling mechanism.
Except when I buy a shirt or jacket or shoes, I don't buy a ticket and get something random with a minor chance to get what I actually want.
Then immediately I can sell it back (WOW!) for less than I have bought it and try again and again, yeah.
Your analogy is totally off.
i do get what you're saying thou...
Their online persona is part of their identity. For some people, buying an expensive in game item makes them feel rich/successful/whatever, and some people will complement/judge them on their taste/expenditure etc.
It’s no different to buying a Rolex, a fast car or Louis vuitton hand bag. All of them are functionally the same but convey something about the owner
I mean I play FFXIV casually, but there's a huge subculture in that game for making looks, combinations and colorings of its huge library of clothing items.
All I'm saying is, withhold your judgment a bit on things you're not into yourself.