Sorry about not seeing this promptly, life constantly gets in my way.
"It's a systemic issue..."- where in the system, and how does it operate/how can it be corrected?
I'm VERY inclined to think few would persist in the tiny, tiny presence Steemit has in the world if we couldn't share the monetary manifestation of our efforts- ALL of the other major social networks and internet services (media streaming, auction sites, etc.) are, every last one do NOT offer that direct opportunity , every single one keeps 10 or 20 fingers in the pie. That's alright, they put the infrastructure together, etc.- but there is a single-minded (and completely predictable) profit motive in their continued operation- and they show no indicatea they will not always consider the generators of the overwhelming portion of the content they host as captive revenue centers, rather than as justifiable operational expenses.
You say, "you have to play nice"- but I've not noticed any strong relationship between reward and "playing nice" here (in posting, anyway, and commenting doesn't seem to be particularly rewarding (directly)), certainly NOT linear; there's JUST enough range in the communities that I can support ONLY what I actually like/am interested in/desperately want to contribute to, yet share in the rewards pool to whatever minor extent I can. And I'll plug those people by resteeming, etc., and those rewards I get makes the difference between the vaporware of fond wishes and putting a penny towards a teacher ( @gigantomachia ), a musician(@stellabelle ), or a researcher who might just help save the world (@homosymbion)