Posted by 4-Lom

Not everyone spends all their time in the game sparring or towering... or whatever it is your judgemental little self does In fact we encouraged every single player who signed up (more than 40 at the outset, who were cut down to what's left over the course of the month) to NOT purchase new items in order to participate.

If this were an actual official collaboration that the staff had somehow promoted and/or included in the game, there are many ways that there could have been purchases and spending involved. As is, it's a bunch of people who had furniture and decided to work together to make something neat.