Ok, I'll bite.

(This does not seem like a real conversation, but rather "I think I'll be controversial for the heck of it". What do the kids call it? Trolling?)

Anyway let's suppose a player is to be punished for *not* doing something. How does that get decided and what is the degree of punishment? Is that an entirely new set of rules to learn? So in addition to: here's what is available to do and here are the overall game goals, but there is a set of rules of *when* it has to be done?

Many games offer risk/reward where a large sum of points can be gained for taking the risk (Delaying cashing in the Cannon Jackpot on AC/DC for example).

So, is the inverse of that to take away a large sum of points for not doing something basic (such as not hitting a side standup target that is essentially worthless) versus only deducting a few points for something hard (such as not completing ROTK in one try).

The "tournament play has screwed up the hobby" almost sounds like there is a sub-story here. Maybe the OP was playing against someone who was able to lather/rinse/repeat a sequence and the OP lost a game to that person.