Your words keep being ‘well no, but actually yes.’ Almost verbatim re: drugs. “No, the only–” if there’s an “only” then that’s “the wrong drugs,” ya doof.
This bullshit isn’t “mediocre.” It’s a scam. I do not respect the framework you push to deny that it’s a scam. What you consider above-board is fucking horrifying.
The shittiest possible physical product is infinitely more real than charging actual money to increment a variable inside a video game on your computer. Even if people don’t think they’ve been tricked into that - they have. It’s nonsense. It is neither a good nor a service. It needs to be stopped, and no half measures will suffice.
The alternatives are still super duper capitalist, so you can relax.