I think you are correct that the platform is heavily rigged in favor of the early adopters. I think it may be even more rigged in favor of the already rich (speaking in terms of Steem Power) than even the real world is. The issue with setting it up to be more egalitarian in distribution is that it would then open itself up wide to fraud. Since you actually have to work to earn anything substantial here, the fraudsters are going to move on pretty quickly to greener pastures.

The way I see it is that if you're willing to do the work and the networking on this platform, that effort will eventually pay off, not in the sense of getting quick riches, but in the sense of gradually earning more consistent payouts for articles, having a reliable following of readers who consistently upvote (and whose SP is itself growing). I still think there is a lot of early adopter advantage to be had.

My advice would be to stay involved, but maybe limit the amount of time spent here to something that seems acceptable, and then also pursue other opportunities. Perhaps a more casual approach would take away the pressure to make it worthwhile by paying off, and maybe that will give room for more organic growth.

That's the approach I'm taking. I'm posting content when I can, and I try to make a little bit of time several times a week to read a few articles in my feed, plus a few in the Active tag, add a few more authors to follow, and post some thoughtful comments. It seems that I'm at least gaining a few followers a week and my articles are gradually starting to draw more comments. I'm thinking eventually it might work out well. If it doesn't, well, I haven't invested too much time into it and I keep my other crypto-interests going as well. Diversification is important in this industry.