The only difference between Steem and Hive is the governance model. On STEEM, it's a dictatorship model, proven to work, it's essentially the way most companies operate today.

On Hive, it's technically similar to the pirate game. I would also like to believe it's a democracy, or at least an oligarchy, but if the witnesses ultimately decides who gets coins or not (i.e. no respect of the sanctity of private proterty), it's clearly a pirate/mafia game.

I think the dictatorship model can lead better results overall, as long as the dictator is benevolent. At least the system can be stable and create value. In the other model, what I predict we will see is more forks, more coin-wipes, more legal conflicts between users, more hacked accounts, and ultimately more community splits.