judging a cryptocurrency projects usefulness on cryptokitties is like judging a front end frameworks usefulness on “TODO MVP”: it’s just the example of a tradable asset that everyone uses BECAUSE it has no value and anyone can just set it up to test.

substitute crypto kitties with something more real, like say a government starts to issue ownership information for cars (pink slips in the US i think? idk exactly) on the blockchain... there’s live, traceable ownership information, duties can be calculated and applied automatically, and traded on a platform like this. this is an asset that has real value because it exists in the real world; it’s not the bit of paper that has value, it’s the significance that it constitutes ownership of an asset

*EDIT: and i’m not saying that this idea has value either; it was just an example of something with intrinsic value rather than “third party created value”

Agreed, especially with respect to Ethereum's governance. The ETC/ETH fork is still fresh in many peoples' minds.