Pay to socialize

There are two known payment methods for MMOs. One is pay-to-play. World of Warcraft is a common example. You pay subscription and for that subscription you can participate in the game. You pay the same amount as everyone else, therefore the developers have no reason to prioritize you. The game is completely fair. The common problem with pay-to-play games is that the only way to increase income is making the game more popular and it can only be done by moving towards the most common denominator: idiots. Such games are usually "accessible" meaning trivial. Sometimes they are outright childish, like WoW by moving towards the "kung-fu panda WOOT!" kids.

The other payment method is pay-to-win, with World of Tanks being the common example. Here your wins and losses depend not on play skill or even play time, but paid money. For money you can buy outright overpowered items which allow you to massacre your non-paying peers. This method is usually more successful in the short term, the common saying is "going F2P doubles revenues", but usually gives much shorter lifespan since sooner or later even the dumbest guy recognizes that he cannot win without paying and also, grinding hopeless randoms for money loses its appeal fast.

"Pay for vanity/convenience" is another method, League of Legends is a good example, but World of Tanks is moving this way in the recent patches. Here you can play the game for free fully, but paying slows down grinding time and also provides "fun" items.

EVE Online seems to be different from all.

• It's not a subscription game, as gaining enough game credits to buy PLEX to play for free is trivial task, a few planets and some random missions can generate that money in a month. You can also access vast amount of game currency by spending real money on PLEX.
  
• However it's neither pay-to-win, as spending lot of money on a ship is the way not for victory, but becoming a laughing stock who lost the purple ship.
• Since there is no defined "progression" in the game, there is no way to shorten "the grind". If you get yourself a titan pilot and a titan on day 1, it won't make you recognized as an accomplished player.

What is the business method of EVE? What is the secret that keeps the "most evil, un-fair, hard and unforgiving" MMO running for so long? I mean every MMO loses subscriptions after they get old but EVE doesn't. The solution came from thinking more about "nullsec-altruism". The solution is that in EVE you are most profitable alone. This is a consequence of the "you are never safe" design doctrine. The more PvE players are together, the bigger target they are. Also your ISK/hour is damaged by idling while chatting. But the worst thing is that if you are in a group, sooner or later someone comes up with the "great" idea of "having some PvP fun" which is a total moneysink. If you are in a PvP alliance, that's the largest moneysink that can only be approximated by asking "how much would it cost to defend our sov by only hired mercenaries?".

You can make ISK by playing totally casually and badly. Playing generates ISK, not consumes. In EVE playing with others costs you ISK. You either make this ISK by also playing alone or by converting PLEX. This is a really effective business model: "pay-to-socialize". When you are "having fun", you don't mind losing money. When you are alone, you are compensated by ISK income, motivated to keep playing.

"EVE is real" is more true here than anywhere else. Life isn't that expensive. Socializing is.
You go out on a party, that needs gifts, expensive drinks and so on.
You want to date a girl? You better get enough cash with you as you'd better bring her to a "good" (read: shamelessly overpriced) restaurant.
You want to date as a girl? You better buy some new clothes, accessories, jewelry and visit a beauty saloon.
Don't want your coworkers think of you as a loser? You better buy a new car.
Want to keep in contact with your relatives? That's lot of gas to travel and lot of gifts.

I'm rich IRL because I don't spend on these. I'm probably rich in games not because I do something extraordinary (I don't), but because I don't waste it on social occasions and also I have time to make money as I don't waste it on socializing in the game.

There is a common belief, "the rich man is lonely because greed makes him unable to love". It's not true. The truth is that the a-social person will unavoidably gets rich as he doesn't waste on socializing.