In support of what I see as your key point here, I will bring back something we all know. There are several writing communities where people are quite happy to do serious work for zero pay tied to production X. (Yes, they get paid; but through a different channel **and** by defining "pay" in much broader terms than the originators of the Steemit pay system decided to include in their concept of "pay".  
Secondly, the minute you come in with a broader concept of "pay" you need to redefine the "price paid" for a product  -- it is no longer just the "dollars received"!