The front ends are, to me, a very important part of the whole consumer experience. Steemit, and the clone Hive front end really do need to be used as the launching board for applications. We are lucky on Hive in that there have already been alternative front ends developed and tested in Steem, and now being ported and upgraded in Hive.
Finding new "Tools" or other uses for the Hive Token, such as Game Play, is not a very easy thing to do, it is pretty much hit and miss, sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you miss the boat.
If I want to find an Application/Tool for my smart phone, all I need to do is go to my phone makers page and look through the applications pages. If I need a new tool for chrome same thing I just go to the chrome or firefox or what ever browser I use store and there they are.
Steemit and Hive.blog were needed to get the initial social side going, I agree a rethink may be in order for where we want the token to go.
The sooner people accept that the chain with its "fast and free transactions" has more to offer the world than most (if not all) other chains, the sooner we will be able to get out of the "dog chasing its tail" phase and start seeing real expansion.
The more people like yourself who voice this fact and present it to the public in a way that you feel comfortable with the sooner things will start moving in that direction.
The beauty of Hive is that we the people have the ability to make things happen, there is no central authority above us, we the people are the authority.
Really appreciate your comment, it made my day. Needed to see that there are others out there who see the potential of Hive and our tokens without being limited to the failed CEOs dream of having his own Reddit clone.