I curate two communities. They both are creative communities...making collages, and writing stories. The collage community has a small band of devoted members who simply love to make collages. It's their 'fix'. There aren't a lot of rewards, but that doesn't stop these members from coming back. I think that's a very valuable community, even though it can't compete with others on Hive as far as membership and rewards go.

The second community...writing...has a small curie vote attached so we get more activity. Still, some people come back because they love to write.

I think in the case of each community there is great value. It gives me satisfaction to give feedback to the members. To let them know they are appreciated.

I don't know about comparing and competing. I think there can be a niche that has value without that. Or maybe that's just for creatives :)