I agree with you - we absolutely do need well documented bots for market making, because otherwise our lack of liquidity it will remain a perpetual chicken/egg problem. But, simply put, both are necessary. A supply of smartcoins is a prerequisite to liquidity on the DEX - unless you're OK with trading entirely in OpenLedger's IOUs. Borrowing bitAssets on the DEX can definitely be risky, but it is necessary. Without it, there would be no price-stable smartCoins.
What you call "bells and whistles" I see as a system that would promote safe behavior by rewarding it with a safety net. Now, if the configuration parameters are open-ended, theoretically it could be twisted into something that promotes risk, however in reality I don't think the incentive structures would align. Unlike our financial system in the time leading up to the crash in 2008, an open source blockchain system is completely transparent. A MAS acting as a safety net exclusively for those engaging in high risk behavior would simply be unsustainable. At the same time, if its users/members must achieve consensus as to its rules in order to participate, those who seek to to reduce their exposure to risk would have a strong incentive to insist on rules that at the very least over no protection to members who engage in high risk behavior, if not outright punish the mfor it..