There's nothing in the world you'd do for free for a while for the chance of doing it? And I'm the naive one? Is money all there is in life in this comment section?
Also: For some people these nights might have been the only times they connected to their team mates on a different level.
I had that too, but it was for art projects, films, music, my own programming projects or some other thing that I certainly did not do for money.
The one thing that differs here is that the people I did this for/with would cross the country if I told them I am in need.
Convincing them of the "coolness" of it is the most common way to exploit the naive/fresh.
The same people who do so to others, wouldn't even piss if they weren't compensated for it...
(And being exploited or not is not a personal decision. If you aren't compensated for overtime, then you are exploited. It just means you're ok with it.).