[strken]

Barriers to entry don't have to be financial. One can imagine a community of artists who require you to mail them a traditional media sketch before they'll let you in. One of the clubs I know of requires you to go on three hikes before they'll make you a member and give you access to their website.

In both cases there's a small financial barrier (being able to pay for postage or your share or petrol money) but a sizeable time barrier (spending hours on a sketch or walking a total of about 50km).

[skeeter2020]

There are a lot of things where effort is inherent in the derived value, or even the primary value. It's a solid proxy for how much you care, which is so important. A trivial example: I sent someone at work who loves to share candy a giant back of gummies; HR came after me because "tax reasons" (incorrectly in this case) and wanted to "gross up" their paycheque with a spot bonus. Which do you think is more impactful: the trip I took to the store, thinking of this person and mailing it to them, or the $26 pre-tax "bonus" they'd get in 2 weeks?