Prestige inflation
One of our commercial farms on the edge of town is having a contest, and the winners will receive free VIP passes to the "Haunted Nights" corn maze. What kinds of advantages do Very Important People get at a Halloween corn maze? Taller corn? Scarier witches? Creepier ghosts?
Of course, you don't have to win a contest to become a VIP these days. You can pay money and become one instantly! At the Glass Cactus Club in Grapevine, Texas, you can buy a VIP membership and get 'exclusive privileges'. At many concerts, you can get VIP seating. (We used to just call that "buying expensive, good seats" -- like the time my mother splurged on tickets to an Artur Rubinstein recital in Houston. But we didn't become Very Important when we bought them.) You can pay for VIP memberships in some online gaming club that will "allow you to buy more Builders, more training slots for Heroes, more Rare tokens and more MCUs" -- whatever that means. .
Of course, you don't have to win a contest to become a VIP these days. You can pay money and become one instantly! At the Glass Cactus Club in Grapevine, Texas, you can buy a VIP membership and get 'exclusive privileges'. At many concerts, you can get VIP seating. (We used to just call that "buying expensive, good seats" -- like the time my mother splurged on tickets to an Artur Rubinstein recital in Houston. But we didn't become Very Important when we bought them.) You can pay for VIP memberships in some online gaming club that will "allow you to buy more Builders, more training slots for Heroes, more Rare tokens and more MCUs" -- whatever that means. .
