Many online games on the computer and in the Apple App Store nowadays advertise themselves as free to play: they give players a heavy amount of entertainment without needing to pay a penny.

While this may seem awfully generous of the company, the reality is that many of these games might be free to play, but players ultimately need to pay to be competitive.

While a game might be "free" on an advertisement and when you initially download it, there may be extra gear, cards, or items that players can buy with real money to give themselves a significant boost in the game.

Sometimes, this boost can save a player over a month and over 30 hours of actually playing the game for $10 or $20 of real money.

When you think about this, this is an incredibly smart and lucrative business model for these game companies. They can simultaneously advertise themselves as a no-cost game and draw money out of its users for "extra" features. Many gamers have inevitably accepted this as the "pay to win" business model: a free game often turns out being more expensive than paying a few dollars for an actual one.

Outsiders may ask: why can't some people just play the game without paying, and work their way up to the top of the ladder? Why can't players just have more self-control and patience?

The reality is that the opportunity cost of actually taking the time to gain what you would with paying real money is extreme, even unfair.

Until that point, the game isn't fun at all because you're stuck at the bottom of the ladder, constantly getting thrashed by superior players who likely did pay money to get ahead in the game.

While there's no cost on the advertisement of the game, there's a hidden entrance fee right after you download it. In other words, players are heavily pressured to spend real money on the game.

Games like FarmVille and Clash of Clans are notorious for having extremely long waiting periods for things to build. Players can spend money on "gems" to speed up the building process. Most players have In League of Legends and Dota, players may need to play years to earn advantageous champions when they only need to spend little more than $10 to buy those champions.

In Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, which I currently play, players need to spend at least $20 on certain card sets to even be mediocre in the game. To get the equivalent amount of gold in playing the game would take over 50 hours over several months.

Is it fair, then, for these games to say they are free? Maybe to play, but not to win.