Wow. This has actually been a really interesting thread, and while I know it is several years old, I don't really care. It's prompted me to say a few words.
Gilsellers: While their lives aren't exactly up to American standards, they're Communists. Basically, they won't starve to death. Their basic needs are taken care of at the cost of an honest job, be it working in sweatshops or selling cell phones. The reason people are so appauled at the thought of Chinese sweatshops is ignorance. They get food, shelter and medical. That twenty-five cents Chin-Mei got for making twelve baseballs today was extra cash for her to spend on what she wants. Extra food? Maybe, but consider her standard nutrition has been covered. A larger apartment? Again, maybe, but consider that she'll probably spend it on a phone or crappy little television. Luxury items. You're spending your extra cash on a luxury item like a game. True, they don't have the 'luxuries' we do, but once again, they won't die. If you're going to profit off the fun of others, at least play through the game honestly once to see what you're taking away from them.
Gilbuyers: To go into this, you have to consider why you started the game to begin with. Admit it. Narcissism. People love to be admired by other people, so what's a better medium than an online game where thousands of people will pass by your character and examine them daily? Gilbuyers are the exact same with the exception that they will (rather humorously) give anything beyond reason to look good. They'll shell out hundreds of dollars on a thirty dollar game just to be 'wearing' a certain item, ignoring the fact that the said item is nothing more than a digital picture. (You might as well have given your imaginary friend a fiver to buy a soda with. He at least cares about you.) The fact that this IS JUST A GAME and WILL EVENTUALLY PASS doesn't occur to them. All they care about is looking as good as possible as quickly. There's an old proverb, 'Haste makes Waste.' Look at the exp rings. You level quickly at the cost of certain skills because you didn't have the time to level them up, resulting in a weakened high level character. It's the exact same with gilbuying. You don't have the experience of hunting down that NM, of meeting people in the game that are willing to help you get that 500,000g airship pass for free along with Rank 5. You get there and strut while people think you're a moron for not knowing where to camp the O. Kote you're wearing. Worse still are account buyers. You didn't even get to choose your name, define who you were, just grabbed at the thing people were looking at and sauntered off without seeing the toilet paper stuck to your shoe. Create a character you want to be proud of, not for admiration's sake, but for your own. I haven't reached 75 on any job, but I could tell you how this one awesome paladin could hold hate on a mob while he was dc'ing and ended the battle alive, a feat that the next paladin in a higher level party couldn't do with normal connection. I could tell you that I know the exact range of certain bard spells to the point that I can properly cast on a poorly-spaced party. Most of all, I could tell you these things without needing admiration because I got satisfaction out of seeing my party benefit from them.
TruePlayers: You're the earners, the few, the proud, the brave and steadfast, and yet, you will thoughtlessly debase fellow players instead of help them out. You don't like it when people buy gil? Know a friend that did but just snapped at them for it? How about this...1.)Tell them to throw out the said gil. It'll boost the economy even a sliver and teaches the gilbuyer that it's worthless except in what people make it out to be. 2.) Take them with you to hunt down their 'real' equipment. 3.) Give them an LS and talk with them to teach them the real value of this game. Not gil. The players. If more people made the friendship and the stories behind the items meaningful, there would be no need for sellers. Hell. My favorite item in the game is a pebble. Not even a stack. One. A friend made it for me as a joke the first time I met him in a party, and we've been inseparable for over a year, now. If you doubt me, I'll give you my gil. Spend it all you want, but I don't doubt that the story you'll tell is, 'That wierd Hume chick just gave me her gil because I didn't believe her! What a wierdo!' Even something random like that is part of Vana'diel's unchartered adventures.
The Bleeding Hearts: For those of you that took the sides of the gilsellers, consider that they're not so dumb to reveal themselves that quickly. The TOS is in many languages, including Italian, Russian and Chinese. Chinese, as the written language, is universal to China since a certain emperor united the land. (Yes, a Terrantino film was accurate. *Gasp*) You can get DVD's with Chinese subtitles. You can see it on the freaking Bart train in San Francisco for crying out loud. There is no way they 'didn't understand the TOS agreement' because it's written out for them in their native language. Go figure. Do you honestly think someone poor MUST be of lesser intelligence? 'Cause I'm looking at some fairly compelling evidence that American education is falling behind China. Their textbooks are as thick as our phonebooks and thinner in the pages. If you sympathize with someone right away because they said this was a bad job and they were poor, it's because you were duped. Think about it. You're of the vein of people believing they can be the righteous, stand up for the little guy. What's more perfect than a poor, starving Chinese gilseller sitting all alone in his crappy little apartment with nothing but his computer (and aparently, a pot to ???? in) and twelve hours of time to play a video game when his friend can make a baseball for a quarter in less than five minutes? Yeah. I doubt this is their sole source of income. Also, consider the people in America that take up language studies on Mandarin and Cantonese. The church to spread the gospel, the Greenpeace, and the fat chick from Full House so that she can pose next to the starving babies and ask for more money from us selfish bastards. The gilsellers are classifying you as a Bleeding Heart to their cause as much as you are marking them as the poor, starving waifs. They understand, and furthermore, they can play the game, and I'm not talking about Final Fantasy.
So, why don't you just quit? Easy. It's a game. To invest so much emotional value into a set of pixels is ridiculous, even in hanging up the ol' controller. Invest, instead, on the people themselves behind the screen. The people that you talk to regularly, that you build relationships with and carry through rough times all in the name of good fun. Put away your wallets. You're not crippling some starving Chinese kid, you're just playing a video game. When you beat it, that'll be great, and there'll undoubtedly be friends alongside you cheering and smiling, but if you don't beat it, who cares? You'll have invested in something with a much greater payback. How many gilbuyers do you know have spent a night laughing about the sad drop rate of the relic sword with a few friends they've met? How many gilbuyers do you know will keep their account once they realize people aren't buying their wares? How many charity workers of Vana'diel are truly enjoying their work without proving a point? Don't play this game for anyone except yourself. Be it selfish ******* or fun-loving misfit, I don't care, as long as you're content, and nine out of ten times, you'll find contentment in others.