Well, I find nothing wrong with ppl/companies trying to make money out of making games. Its just that normally it won't be my money ;-)
If the game is unplayable without paying, I don't play it. NFS NL is not the case.
If the game is good, I may consider paying some amout to "thank" developers (well, maybe producers more than anyone else). Such a payment (or payments in total over a long run) will not be higher than a price of similar commercial game. Ever. If they get greedy, they won't get a dime off me.
Speaking just of NFS NL, the only reasonable payment in my eyes is Monthly golden card and maybe sometimes some special action offers (never bought one, though). It supplies you with enough gold to pick some of the good cards, SE blueprints or whatever else.