In games like mmorpg and other pay to play games
This model has proven to be effective, the so called "free to play" games. Carefully balanced, it can be a hit, but do it wrong and you end in a "pay to win" scenario which will probably kill your game before you know it.
The basic idea is trading time with money. One group of players, have plenty of time but no money, the other group has money but no time (because they work, duh).
In this way you try to balance your game to cater both. Grind and farm for a chance to get the very same items that could be instantly bought.
It is bad when some things are restricted to pay only, unless absolutely cosmetic, it falls in the realm of "pay to win".
So the answer to your question would be yes, but only if the game is well balanced...