Does paying for a ticket to go to an amusement park or the movies or whatever mean that you wasted money on nothing? Just because you don't permanently own something doesn't mean you paid for literally nothing. You paid for the experience. The good times you have over the years playing a game you loved.
I mean yeah, I'm sure losing everything when the servers shut down would fucking suck, but that doesn't invalidate the time you've experienced up to that point.
I don't have the money to throw at games like that, but I do understand it.
That's half of what you said: