No, the expectation was never that this would end up paying you more than working an actual job for the overwhelming majority of creators
The issue is the people that think they should be showered with points because they spent time making a model that doesn’t get many downloads because it took them ages to make, which isn’t really how any of this works, you could spend 200 hours making an intricate model, but if its not something people actually want to print its not going to get many points, bambu isn’t going to prop you up by giving you more points per download just because of the time you spent, if you want to be paid per hour spent then do commissions and custom models for people as a business
Yeah unless you’re a super popular creator thats not going to happen, every model has a finite consumer base and points for any given model will dry up, they are not going to tick over indefinitely so you have to keep making new things
No, they see 3D modelling as their job, there is a reason they are on multiple sites and have a Patreon for commercial licensing, that is where they make most of their money, yes they will make some from MW, but that is not their primary income source as they know they aren’t going to be able to live on just that income alone
Same goes for other big creators, this is just a supplementary income stream, not the primary one, if MW were to cease to exist right this second, they would carry on just fine
They already know not to put all their eggs in one unsustainable basket