I've only been around for about a year, and have only been paying for a couple of months, but I personally never considered the subscription fee as "paying for the game", but rather a way to support WG so they could keep the game running.
For one, I never believed that the company has been making any real money off the game in a long time and was surprised they didn't already close it down. So me paying a monthly subscription fee was my way of helping them at least cover their costs until they'd finally lose interest.
Second, had I considered it paying, I would've been quite disappointment. The staff is at minimum size, the game has quite its share of bugs and problems and the server stability hasn't been great at times, either. If I pay for something, I expect good support and active development. By considering it me helping them, instead of me paying them, I could easily ignore all the existing problems.
That's also why I would have been willing to pay 50% more per month, or to pay a migration fee to the new server. But that was before WG showed its true face of going over corpses to achieve some profit. It's a company, companies want to make money, fair enough. But apparently I'm a customer, and customers decide what to spend their money on.
For one, I never believed that the company has been making any real money off the game in a long time and was surprised they didn't already close it down. So me paying a monthly subscription fee was my way of helping them at least cover their costs until they'd finally lose interest.
Second, had I considered it paying, I would've been quite disappointment. The staff is at minimum size, the game has quite its share of bugs and problems and the server stability hasn't been great at times, either. If I pay for something, I expect good support and active development. By considering it me helping them, instead of me paying them, I could easily ignore all the existing problems.
That's also why I would have been willing to pay 50% more per month, or to pay a migration fee to the new server. But that was before WG showed its true face of going over corpses to achieve some profit. It's a company, companies want to make money, fair enough. But apparently I'm a customer, and customers decide what to spend their money on.