It's not a game changer but it is an important component.
I view it in this way; all throughout the 90s and 2000s there were message boards. We used to be active on dozens of them, and each had their own account and avatar.
Each also had a little community and an admin. Each cost money to run and had to scale.
The only thing that's changed with AP is that now all those tiny communities can come together with federation. You can communicate between communities and users.
That's all! It doesn't have to be more complicated or dangerous than that.
You'll still have dedicated admins who pay for hosting with their time and money. You'll still have communities around these admins who contribute content and perhaps donations.
But to be able to communicate across communities and not have dozens of accounts is a big step forward to me.
It used to be like what you describe, and there's a reason it degenerated to what is now. Project that try to resurrect the losing model, without addressing why it is doomed to lose, just didn't learn their lesson.
I view it in this way; all throughout the 90s and 2000s there were message boards. We used to be active on dozens of them, and each had their own account and avatar.
Each also had a little community and an admin. Each cost money to run and had to scale.
The only thing that's changed with AP is that now all those tiny communities can come together with federation. You can communicate between communities and users.
That's all! It doesn't have to be more complicated or dangerous than that.
You'll still have dedicated admins who pay for hosting with their time and money. You'll still have communities around these admins who contribute content and perhaps donations.
But to be able to communicate across communities and not have dozens of accounts is a big step forward to me.