Blizzard are an intelligent lot. For all that Trade might try, the point really can't be argued: the other night they were pulling in millions of pounds via a queue numbering in the hundred-thousands, and they did it through well-considered use of ponies. To be more precise, the Celestial Steed. Other blogs have already delved into estimating the enormous profit, so I'm going to leave them to it, as there's another area of discussion much more suited to my maths-retardant brain.
Specifically: what the flying horse are thousands of people doing throwing their cash into pixels?
The mount is, essentially, purely aesthetic. Alright, it spares you the in-game cost and toil of trundling over to your friendly local mount vendor and snagging a new steed every time your riding skill escalates, but the cost is so low these days it's negligible. Defending your purchase from a standpoint of convenience alone is going to be difficult. In fact, I suspect most people who're doing this are actually just a little bit afraid of admitting something closer to the truth: they're buying it because it's really, really pretty. And there's a word people tag to you when you buy stuff because it's really, really pretty: superficial.
Superficial - RELATING TO THE SURFACE.
Relating to, affecting, or located on or near the surface of something.
A superficial wound.
As this is entirely to do with a mount skin, it's exactly the right word. The problem lies in the reams of social stigma surrounding this notion: buy something just because it's pretty and you risk being materialistic and focused only on aesthetics. Perhaps you're even a wee bit stupid because you're paying for pixels in a game.
Those that are entirely caught up on that idea need to stop and think for a moment. If you're playing World of Warcraft, I'm afraid you already are paying for pixels in a game. Even if you do it to make new friends or spend time with old ones, you witness everything going on in WoW, from chat to damage output to that nice new loot, through pixels on your screen. So be careful, least you find your argument turns in a lot of “only in some cases” or perhaps “just not in my case” because of your own monthly subscription fee.
Nevertheless, there is some weight to what these people are saying. Buying anything simply because it's pretty, be it a new shirt or a new winged horse, cannot logically be justified. The thing that several members of both sides seem to be missing is that no one is buying it simply because it's pretty. They're buying it because it's pretty and pretty is going to make them happy.
Let me go all anecdotal on you.
The night before the Celestial Steed was released, I split from my boyfriend of three years. While I had prepared myself for that – hell, I instigated it – it knocked me back a bit nevertheless. By the following evening I had a headache and that lingering nausea of recent loss. Not the stuff of violent heartbreak, but suffice to say I was on a downer. Then I found out about this horse, and my immediate reaction was I deserve cheering up. Not “it'll save me a few minutes' travel time and a handful of gold for my alts”, not “it'll boost my mount count for that achievement”, not “I'll be able to hang around Dalaran with the cool kids!” I wanted to nab me some happy and damn, what is a sparkly winged horse if not that?
My purchase has provided exactly what I wanted. I bought it, rode around on it with a mate, and just generally had fun. Not just that, but the depth of my love for shiny horses has left me gleeful every time I log on to find my character sitting on one.
To summarise, I bought something aesthetically pleasing. It made me happy. It doesn't need rationalising any further: as soon as you stop looking at superficial assets and considering them as something shiny with no additional benefits, as soon as buying pretty translates correctly to buying happy, it ceases to be something to get defensive about. It ceases to be worthy of derision.
