Democracy is incompatible with power concentration. Excessive wealth easily translates into power, thus, it breaks the balance of any democracy.
There's also a saying that "Democracy cannot exist while people are hungry", because a common complaint is that "poor people vote with their stomachs".
Reminds me of a joke, that the only reason the brits didn't move the pyramids of Giza back to London was because they are too heavy
A grading system that does nothing doesn't bother me. A grading system that unlocks highly desirable, but non-essential stuff will probably get me on my nerves, or get me to cheat. Tenchu on the PS1 had 1 unlockable item for each mission you got a GrandMaster rank
Same applied to the original Medal of Honor, though I never understood why some of those grades were given, I think they had more to do with where most of your shots landed?
Nerdslayer did a great job giving most of the history of TTG, from beginning to shutdown https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=8JUlDr7EdqQ
Also related, Bill Willingham, who wrote The Wolf Among Us, released his IPs in the public domain as a middle finger to DC, who's not paying him royalties, nor did they consult him on the making of the game. - https://exputer.com/news/games/the-wolf-among-us-creator-public/
Ah, the benefits of nearly infinite money
Bots not only stole our jobs our shitposts, they're also going to get paid for it. Truly, this is the dumbest timeline