Pay money, become more powerful. A simple transaction that creates games where the strongest players have the most disposable income. If you want to compete, you better be prepared to pay up.
Defined
Pay-to-win is an intentional game design intended to create unfair or frustrating game environments to encourage the player to spend money. Games that use pay-to-win schemes are often designed to slowly ramp up in difficulty and reduce the effectiveness of the player, prompting payment as the only way of progression. Pay-to-win can take place in both multiplayer games, to gain an advantage over other players, and single-player games, to progress the game.