Your analogy has the benefit of not being specious; it's just completely missing the point. Support from your printer manufacturer is an ongoing relationship, b

Your analogy has the benefit of not being specious; it's just completely missing the point. Support from your printer manufacturer is an ongoing relationship, but the only thing tying you to them is your desire to overpay for ink. You could easily get ink from other places. With WoW, how many other vendors are able to continue providing an Azeroth for you to craft your wars? The software you buy for WoW is clearly marked that it has no functionality outside of online play. It's client software that connects to the WoW "service" on Blizzard "servers." You are paying for the service, since you can download the same client software for free on Blizzard's website. I'm guessing that, like Eve Online, any retail purchase equals the equivalent game time.