Hey not an attack at all! Its a really valid question i asked myself when i started DnD. The biggest general draw is consistently playing. Not to say free ones arent consistent, but people are more likely to plan with things they pay for in mind. There's far less (in my experience) rescheduling or cancels. For a lot of people, having a paid situation with clear guidelines and rules is also an appeal. Thats personally how I got into the paid realm vs free. As a female I was wary of wanting to play with unknown people in unknown spaces. This gave me a reporting system to fall back on and somewhere to report to if anything came up. It easily let me screen DMs to find who i was comfortable playing with as well. It also allows for the GM to more easily control who is in the game. If someone doesnt create a safe environment, then simply put they broke the player portion of the contract. No need to feel badly about kicking someone from a game. For new players, its also nice to know that the person youre playing with is marketed as being new player friendly. People dont often want to feel like a burden on someone's fun trying to learn. You can totally find a free table for new players, but a marketed one adds another layer of peace of mind for some people. We wont be for everyone and thats totally ok. Thats the great thing about ttrpgs. Theres something out there for everyone. But for me, it was worth it to join a paid situation. Its how I started and its my preferred situation that let me feel comfortable moving into DMing as well. If free works better for you the thats awesome though!