The gym "analogy" is so baseless it's not worth discussing; the two comparisions have so many discrepancies it's futile to create an accurate picture using that gym scenario.
Just putting this out there, though... the opposite could be said, couldn't it? One group of individuals logs in, shows up to king camps, consistently claims/kills, spends an hour of EXP to keep buffer or maybe participate in another activity, and logs off. Another group logs in, completes city/expansion missions, consistently participates in dynamis, limbus, enms, assaults, bcnms, popped nms, levels other jobs, etc... yet due to their conflicting schedules can't show up to king camps, and because there is a lack of adequet alternatives to a number of the items the kings drop, they can't attain the potential power the king-only group can even though they're paying the same amount for the service.
That's a very extreme example, but it also underlies the real problem.