To start, I'd like to say that I'm broke.

I still need to defend HH though, they have plenty of clever content and they're actively increasing it unlike many of the other Nutaku games that I play. I only found the Nutaku site in December and since then I've come to realize that all of the games are over-priced so I'm guessing the site provider plays a part in that.

If it makes you feel any better about playing online games in general, just begin every game expecting it to be a money-grab and plan to spend money if you enjoy it, or play for free with limited gameplay if you choose not to pay. Sometimes you'll get lucky and find that a game is very generous but that just is not the standard business model.

If I studied programming, bought servers, and created content for a game that others will get to enjoy, I would expect to get paid as well.