The entire online ecosystem has changed. Transactional relationships are becoming the norm in almost every facet of interaction. It started with ad revenue, then integrated fan funding via platforms like patreon or project/crowdfunding via gofundme. Now it's starting to appear on social media with things like superfans or whatever it was that Twitter was doing and I'm fairly certain Facebook is doing it soon too. I wouldn't be surprised if microtransactions in gaming have trained people to find small amounts of spending on every aspect of a game to be normal and that has now been transferred over into basic interactions outside of games. I guess what I'm saying is this is all EA's fault lol.