Yes. Not ‘fine’, but acceptable.
I would have disliked the fact that the booster, like many other recently introduced boosters, does not follow the idea of EVE’s economy where most items, including boosters, are meant to be player-made.
But yes, if it could have been sold it would be no different than other tradable items CCP sells in their store, and equivalent to PLEX with regards to the ability of one player to trade their money for another player’s time.
I have a tolerance for PLEX as I see the benefits of it.
In MMOs there always are players who have different values of their time and of their money. As result, you get illegal practices like RMT and as result botting and hacked accounts to fund the RMT. It’s inevitable and present in every MMO I’ve played.
PLEX gives players with more time than money and players with more money than time the opportunity to trade time for money with a positive effect on the game, as money goes to the developers, rather than to the people undermining the game with bots. While this does not entirely stop RMT (and the resulting malpractices), it makes the effects of RMT much, much smaller.
So yes, I tolerate PLEX and the ability for players to trade their wealth legally to other player’s ingame time. Not because I like it, but because I see how it’s better than the alternative.
And other tradable items sold in the NES, like tradable skins, extractors or even boosters would be no different than PLEX in this context: a way for players with money to trade that money for another player’s time.
The line I draw is when the game sells combat boosts only obtainable with money. When a game pushes people to pay real money in order to compete with other players.
They may not care.
I do care, this is my line, and I’m out.
And as I told Io, no I’m not giving away my stuff.