Agree and disagree ... When we start on Steemit, our upvotes are not powerful (mine gives only 0.06 max - I think you had less :-), I find it ridiculous when I enjoy an article to give only that). So I use a bot occasionally to increase my Steem Power and can someday give more. But it's true that there are some abuses, when I see that a post has received upvotes from several bots just to increase the earning, only bot comments...
On the point of view of creativity too, I'm not a creative, I share my passion (cars) and I look at artists present on Steemit (by the way, many talents on this platform @manouche, @erb, @dianalealart, @design-guy...). I think it takes both creative and viewers, it's the viewer who makes the painting (Marcel Duchamp). A work of art without anyone to admire... so we need both.
The system is not perfect. What annoys me the most is the people who automatically vote for a post without reading, sometimes there are more upvotes than views... It's good to share our frustrations :-)