Final Fantasy XIV and a Culture of Enabling

[Arillyn]

That's definitely part of it. Kind of mentioned the same thing in another thread about the topic. We're not even talking about RP for the most part anymore. It's just a way to make "quick cash". At the same time though, least most servers I've been on, gil really isn't all that important or difficult to come by. I do think on some level people are enjoying their pretend hostess/barkeep work or w.e. To which I'd argue if we had more to do in game that wasn't over in a week of doing it, people would be a lot more occupied with other things then playing essentially IMVU with better graphics.

Could be. And while gil isn't hard to get - I can't tell you how many people I know who have no idea how to make it and think having $500k gil is a big deal.