H1Z1 - Pay to Win?

With the recent release of H1Z1, controversy has stirred in regards to it's apparent pay to win model, whilst at the same time begs the question of where you draw the line in regards to what is considered 

Pay to Win.

Early on, one of the game's developer's stated that players would be able to invest real money into air drops, which would drop "water and food", according to a developer. The air drop spawns somewhere randomly in the map, forcing players to forge alliances and to interact with other players. Investing your real money does not guarantee receiving supplies; it simply guarantees an air drop. 

Come release of the game, air drops not only drop food and water, but also weapons and ammo. This has sparked a lot of the community into going to the forums to complain about the apparent pay to win model that the game incorporates. The developers were not entirely honest, but nor did they outright lie either. Their description of how air drops would work were blotchy at best. It does not always guarantee a weapon or some ammo in an air drop, but their is a chance. It was also coincidental that air drops were dropping particularly close to popular streamers, allowing them an advantage over "normal" players in the form that now the popular players have access to ranged weaponry and a supply of ammo, as well as survival supplies.

The game is one of the most prominent zombie-survival games on the market, it has been developed by SOE. Players feel betrayed and have been requesting refunds left and right, surprisingly SOE has agreed and is giving out refunds on a no-questions-asked basis. This is quite impressive and I believe this could be damage control. My personal opinion is that it is very blurred as to whether this is pay to win. There is a random chance that the air drops could give weapons, but sometimes not. Depending on this random chance, dictates whether it is pay to win or not. It is not strictly pay to win, as you can simply just get shot in the face whilst on your way to the air drop you just paid for and then have it taken from you.

However, prior to the release of the game, there have been many articles about how air drops work and that they could contain weapons and ammunition, yet the entire player base is complaining about how SOE have been snakes, encouraging the pay to win game model. To quote from an article:

"Players will need to pay the organization providing the supplier money - and watch out - your payment could be in vain as other players will be able to see the planes and supply drops. These aren't free supplies being handed out by a group such as the Red Cross or anything either: they are purchased via the in-game store. Airdrops will provide survivors with ammunition, food, water, weapons and other supplies."

- VG247 article from August 16, 2014.

This just blows any real complaints out of the water, the information was there and players simply ignored it. They did not know what they were getting into despite being warned and I could only say that there is no one to blame but themselves for not doing their research on the game and air drops.

Neither party is really in the wrong here, we will have to see how SOE handles this in the future.