There is no perfect system and it's hard to anticipate how people will use and abuse it. The hardforks have tried to address the issues. It was not pay to play originally as you did not have to buy anything. New users can still get some delegation from Steemit and I'll do it for accounts I create with RCs. I don't like to be absolutist about things and I still see potential for Steem. You can earn despite the bots and other abuse.