I want to hear your opinions on items and the drop system!

I call on this community in my time of need. I'm writing a final for my Archaeology of the Contemporary course, and I'm using TF2 as a case study for the interaction between digital artifacts and digital identities.

And I need your help!

I've put together a quick set of questions that would help round out some of my thoughts and research. I would be incredibly grateful for any responses, detailed or brief. We all have opinions on the drop system and hats, and this is your opportunity to not only voice those opinions, but contribute to the furthering of academic knowledge!

So I ask of you, r/tf2, answer me these 8 questions. Help me explore the underlying intricacies of this game we all know and love. Do it. For science...

1. Do the items and the drop system have an influence on how you structure your time spent gaming? If so, please explain.

2. Do you participate in trading? How regularly? Does this sort of community interaction have an influence on how you structure your time spent gaming?

3. Do you follow the trade economy? Are you a member of active trading communities?

4. Has the promise of promo items for TF2 been a factor in your decision to purchase another game? To what degree?

5. Do you think the ability for community members to contribute strengthens or weakens the quality of the game?

The following three questions are directed towards those who played TF2 before the Sniper/Spy Update!

1. What was your attitude towards the introduction of hats and the drop system? Has that changed over the course of time? Why?

2. Have your gaming habits in TF2 changed since these additions?

3. How do you think the community has changed since the addition of these items?

I really appreciate any and all responses. Feel free to pick and choose, I know there are a lot of questions. Really any community feedback would be very useful; I would like to create as accurate a picture I can of the community. TF2 is an incredibly useful case study for my paper, since there was already an established digital community of players before the addition of these artifacts. The interactions that players have with the artifacts and each other through these items could reveal a lot about how we are to understand digital communities and the identities people create within them.

TL; DR - I'm writing a final paper about TF2. Help me out by answering some questions?