I set a rule for myself: when I see the secondary NFT market arguing about royalties again, I won't take sides, and I won't rush to share the "justice/free market" narrative.

It's easy to see who is dodging, who is subsidizing, and who is using aggregators to break down transaction fees cleanly just by looking at the on-chain queue...
But whether creators can survive often isn't in the code; it's whether everyone is willing to pause for a second longer.
Recently, I heard that some regions are tightening and loosening taxes and compliance rules alternately, and deposit and withdrawal expectations keep changing.
Many people's first reaction is "minimize friction first," and soft constraints like royalties are more easily treated as optional.
Anyway, now when I see new projects, I first look at their attitude towards "selling without royalties," and then decide whether to participate—don't just follow the hype blindly.