Personally I have bought every release of IL2 and I have spent a lot of time releasing skinpacks and missions just to show support. I would never have done any of this if the game was pay to play or required online activation. My gaming machine is not online. I dislike the new approach to DRM with a passion.
The only reason I do not own Rise of Flight is the insidious DRM it came out with required online activation to play offline. Apparently the next release of RoF will now allow an offline mode. I may actually consider getting the next release of RoF if the DRM issue has been resolved.
Edit:
Actually if a 4.10 IL2 DVD came out with no copy protection I would immediately buy it even though I already have the IL2 1946 DVD and can download patches for free
I would also add that there is a THIRD unscrupulous method used by online games such as Evony which is to make the games totally free but sell in-game advantages to people that pay which make the non-payers uncompetitive.