Is Blogging On Steemit A Game?

I'm a little disillusioned about blogging on Steemit. I see great content on Steemit with little or no money behind it. Then I see authors with hundreds of dollars in upvotes. I've noticed that blogging on Steemit seems to require game like strategies and timing, and auto voting bots.

Recently I read a post where if a voter upvotes 30 minutes after the author posted then the author gets nothing and the voter gets 100%. In a different post I read that there are auto voting bots. I am new to Steemit, but between auto voting bots and timing of upvotes I am wondering if it is a game and a gamble whether a person will earn money rewards for their work.

If this is actually the case I would greatly appreciate some one clarifying. If I have it wrong feel free to correct my understanding on how Steemit works. I was thrilled to join this site and be apart of a blogging site where you can earn money blogging. but I am hesitant to put time, effort, and work into something that is more game and strategy based. Or that in some ways isn't any different than posting on facebook.

Have I completely missed the point , or is there a game like strategy to posting on Steemit?

Let me know with an upvote and comment if you have looked at it like this too, or not, and let the games begin!