i used to participate in the economy a lot when the game was active because having the flashy hats and setups for the classes was fun in its own way, plus i enjoyed playing the game a lot, to begin with
i still have an unusual and some strange weapons for my main class, but I definitely can't see the economy being nearly as active as it used to be.
that said, I think it's partly because of the largely uninspired updates and item selection that the game has had since the last "good" update.