RE: If STEEM was worth $0, would you still be here?
That depends on one thing, at least for me: Will my readers stay?
I've been a writer for a long time, but it's hard to get exposure if you don't have a large publisher backing you. Steem has given me the opportunity to reach people that are reading my stories and science posts and interact with me based on those. Without interaction, I could just quit.
Another thing are the communities, especially steemSTEM. They're wonderful people with whom I interact a lot over the day, not just via Steem. If they all vanished, what keeps me here?
The money is nice, no question. I feels good to earn money by writing what you love. But the community is what I'm here for, the people, the interaction, the feedback.
If STEEM dropped to 0, I'd stay - as long as the rest of my circle did too.