During playoff football this weekend, I was surprised to see a very charming commercial for Supercell’s free-to-play Clash of Clans. I recognized the art style and soldier types immediately, even though I haven't played the game in months. I stopped after hitting the paywall when I decided I didn't want to spend any money on it.

I’ve also been playing a lot of League of Legends lately (following a feature I wrote recently). I'm getting ready to buy in, which would make it the first time I've ever put money into a free-to-play game. Every time I've come close before, I've backed off.

What about you? When you play free-to-play games, do you ever take out your wallet? What motivates you to spend money on a game that could conceivably be played for free in perpetuity? If you’ve spent money on these “free” games, how much have they cost you?