I guess this is a thought experiment. As people who follow my account know I tend to give out upvotes randomly. They are worth a couple of dollars at high percentages which is pretty good for a comment on a site. But let's say the value of steem goes up to 50-100 dollars. This is a real possibility if we keep improving and expanding the network. I could give a hundred dollars American out for a vote. That is a full-time job worth of value to a comment.
Yeah I can give them out randomly but think of what else you can do with that. You could run real contests for content from graphic design to photography to writing. You could have film contests on here and give out real prizes. This can be the new Sundance for indie films. Or we can have game tournaments or just run polls that pay people for their answers.
There are a lot we can do. This is what makes this site more powerful than other media sites as we can give out instant prizes and rewards and it helps to run events a lot smoother than other places. We can have people running contests that not only reward original work but those running the contest will get paid as well. We need to keep the incentives up so people will hold and buy steem but we can hit a balance that leads major giveaways to its users. Think of how many people would use this site?
Something to think about.