I disagree in principle, I do not believe people should be able to pay real money to get ahead in a game especially one that involves any kind of multiplayer component.
In my opinion paying $3 for an uber-car to take online is like buying gold in an MMORPG, and should basically be disallowed.
Granted, it's not illegal, but I really think the gaming industry itself should sit down and regulate profiteering withint their own industry to keep the spirit of gaming intact.
... and yeah, it does sound to me like the game was set up to get you to spend real money intentionally (from the way it's described).
Do NOT take this the wrong way, but in general it strikes me that a lot of the guys who pay for sports titles and mainly play them, tend to not be the sharpest knives in the drawer (as opposed to people who play them, but not primarily, and alongside other games). Over the years I've heard many comments about the "average gamer" playing Madden and driving titles while stoned and how that is "real gaming" and best enjoyed with herbal enhancement and the like. The sales do tend to imply that there are plenty of sports titles in homes that don't have anything else as well.
I look at this incident, and also what was going on with the Madden franchise and it's microtransactions that had Game Informer making jokes about EA wanting people to "pay for air in the ball".
It seems like gaming companies see the industry in the same (admittedly fairly offensive) light that I do and have been setting their DLC attempts accordingly.
Truthfully though it makes me think that the rest of the gaming community should consider rallying a bit more on such issues in support of our less intelligent brethren (and indeed they are our brethren).
