hey @culgin,
This post beside few others gave me the will to make a more complete post about the state of Drugwars and the custom_json being removed.
https://steemit.com/drugwars/@hightouch/stateofdrugwars

Since I'm behind the game I probably not have the same vision as you (I may miss objectivity for sure I won't hide it) and as you will understand from my answer that I still think that DrugWars is a "hybride" Steem and Obyte app.

I would be also really interested to know how much people decided to leave the game because of this change. Not sure if I can track it but I will try.

Again thanks for sharing this feedback about DrugWars and the recent changes. I hope to make you enjoy the game even more with the coming updates ;)