I think it's important that games be fun enough to play with enough incentive to advance regardless of how well the game economy is doing. I would hate to see that every crypto game is looked at like an investment or an opportunity to mine crypto.

I fundamentally disagree with your claim here. Its not about having to mine crypto, its about a revenue share between the creators and the players. The relationship should be intertwined.
A crypto game that does not offer a solid market that empowers their users should die. No question about it.

The simple fact is that a crypto game will never in a million years be able to come close to competing with the gaming industry at large in game quality due to marketing constraints and other factors like crypto skepticism. It is simply not happening. Gods Unchained literally copied Hearthstone, multiple cards are the same, and yet they have 700 daily players. Steem Monsters has 3000.
What crypto games can do is offer the power of the blockchain to provide value to the user. To the "good player", to the consistent player, to the devoted player. That is where its strength is.
Its not in trying to make something to compete in the gaming industry at their standards because they will fail like GU failed spectacularly with a 15 million USD budget.

Im not saying that games shouldnt strive to that level of quality, im saying that that is far less important in this case.