The Advantage

Instrument — Purchasable Superiority · Issued by Various

Where the contest is decided at the point of sale.

The Advantage sells outcome directly. Unlike the cosmetic, which sells the appearance of distinction, this specimen sells distinction itself — power, position, victory — to whichever visitor is willing to pay the most for it.

The museum classifies it as the most honest object in the collection, for it alone makes no pretence that the visitor is buying anything other than the defeat of other visitors.

The specimen requires, to function, an audience of the unpaid: the purchased advantage has value only in proportion to the number of visitors it is exercised against. The free player is not the seller's failure. The free player is the seller's inventory.

The museum's own leaderboard, admission to which is free to view, is an exhibit of this kind. Precedence upon it is determined solely by contribution, and the museum presents it without further comment.

The remainder of this placard is reserved for the museum’s patrons. Your contribution of $2.00 ensures the continued preservation of this exhibit.

Provenance

c. 2010Direct-power sales appear in competitive free-to-play titles.
2015The term 'pay-to-win' enters common critical use.
presentThe model persists wherever ranking can be sold.