I don't get what's the problem..
If You want the best, pay for it!
If You don't want to pay for it, You don't really want it!
Being jealous on others who have better items 'cause They paid for it is a bit retarded act.
Of course the real life money paid items have to be better. If not, why would I pay for it??? Why would I spend my money on a bag of sh*t when I can get better stuffs for free?
To get the best of something, You must invest in it! This is how life goes. And, You think, that this is only a video game.. and You won't spend money on it. Okay! No money. No paid bills. Server shutdown! Watch the running little wolf and the "Server down!" sign!
STS need to profit from their games to run them, so They must make the non-free items better, so players have a reason to buy them. In SL this is why I don't purchase Platinums anymore after average 2800 Platinum purchases a month. Plat store items are worse than free dropped items. There's no reason to buy anything from the Store. The last purchase I made was to reserve names. Purchases for reserving names and to buy a vanity pet every 3rd month won't keep STS alive.