Sub-steems are a definite future!
Just not sure they each need their own token as it's proven they can be be driven by social desires.
Native blockchain assets - and their incentives - and their websites, such as Steemit - are like boardgames. The game can be designed in different ways, but we don't want to have a thousand different rule sets included in one game because that would make the game too complicated. In a recent @steemitblog post, however, we outline a case for two new aspects to the game's rules - 1. That comments must take a piece of the author/curator rewards. 2. That short posts must take a piece of the author/curator rewards and 3. Medium/long posts must take a piece of the author/curator rewards. In the spirit of this thread, these new rules by themselves should open the game up to be even more playable while not making it all that much more complex.