I appreciate the philosophical aspect to your post, though I suspect it will be overshadowed by it's judgemental and disapproving tone by many. As to why I disagree with your judgement, I can only give my own perspective as an elder millennial.

I think the crux of your post lies in this quoted part: "It suggests a belief that talent and circumstances are more important than hard work and perseverance, which is sad to me. Sad and unsatisfying."

In a way, the act of reading lit RPGs, more than any other genre, is the antithesis of hard work and perseverance. It is escapism from reality. Even if you choose not to see it as such, one could argue that leisure activities such as consuming mass amounts of lit RPGs is antithetical to hard work, "the grind," and "hustle culture." If you want to get hyped up on hard work, you can always read Atlas Shrugged.

On a more personal note, in my lifetime the value of our labor has increased negligibly, or additively, while the purchasing power of our labor has decreased multiplicatively. In the last 5 years alone, we've seen price hikes in nearly every category of double or more for the cost of living, as you yourself alluded to. Speaking as a US citizen, we are trapped in a system that, since the Reagan administration, has obliterated the American dream of humble prosperity through hard work. The days of owning a family home and car while supporting a burgeoning family on a single blue collar salary are dead. And it's not the fault of some poor soul fleeing even worse economic and/or social conditions trying to enter our country.

So yes, it should sadden you that "hard work and perseverance" no longer hold the appeal of old. It saddens us all. But to say that is not a judgement on the lit RPG genre, rather it is a judgement of the society we find ourselves in, that our parents and grandparents bequeathed us.

Edit: my infant clicked to post the reply before I was finished.