Oh, but there is... they charge you $4,00 more if you don't get it from steam. Ok, that's less than a cheese burger, but I had to be anal about it. CCP, of course, offers new content em balance tweaks every few months free of any charge, which is great.

Having said that - and still comparing with food, because it's close to lunch time - $14,95 is what I pay for a good pizza around here. And I'll gladly forgo a pizza night (or three) to play one of my favorite games for a whole month. And considering the whole free expansion stuff, yeah, it's actually quite cheap.

$4 for the EVE client? I've never had to pay anything to download the EVE client...I just download it from their site.

You do indeed have to pay to upgrade your trial EVE account to a subscription one, it's a one-time fee of like 5 Euros, even if you buy it directly from their website.

They call it a "registration" fee.

If a game wants me to pay $15/month they better not want $40 per expansion without even a free month! (I'm looking at you Blizzard.)

I don't mind a RMT game but they also better not charge $15/month plus required items from the store just to play.

I agree CCP's EVE subscription model is my preference. I don't mind paying $15/month when the expansions are free. The RMT in EVE isn't game breaking, I've even sold a PLEX or two in game for the ISK.

Ive gone thru 5+ trials of eve, I just can't decide if to get it monthly. :)

I like playing with a group, and noone i know in rl is even slightly interested in playing it.