My opinion is that it is never any point in spending money on pixels. The philosophy behind that is that games are supposed to be for fun. You should be able to enjoy a game for what it is, right from the start. Having to spend money on end-game items in order to enjoy a game, is really super-contradictory and defeats the point of buying the game in the first place.
The best thing to do, is that people that have the opportunity to play the game more than others, should give excessive gear away to people that don't have that much time to play.
And that goes more for people that play in groups too, which usually find better gear quicker. When these groups, or single players too, get high-end gear and keep finding that kind of high-end gear, they should give it away for free to players that don't have too much time to play, in order to create a harmonious community.
When we start charging money for pixels, that's when people that want to play, but don't have the time, but can't afford to pay, get left behind and this is unfair.
One more and of course stronger philosophy is that people should work for money. It is very unfair that someone has to work 8-10 hours a day, in high-risk environments, to make 20-30$ a day, and someone sits inside on their ass making thousands of dollars in a week by pressing buttons, inside in a warm house with no risk or problems to their own health. It is a mockery towards working-class people. This is a basic common sense understanding of economics and morality. And that is what should be taught in schools. And since it isn't, is the exact reason why we get these kind of conditions in the world. And why everything is going downhill.
Using a forum currencty to trade items is basically okay, as long as it does not involve real money. It can be a good way to continually determine the price on items.
Games are meant to be for fun. Money should come from real work that society needs, not from fun and games.