I can only speak for myself but for me the main condition for enjoying a game is - apart from being challenging and fun - to make sure that the BEST and most skillful players will win (and also earn most).
In Splinterlands there are two reasons why that is not the case:
There is such a huge amount of (partly very expensive) cards on the market that only these players who spend a lot of money have a chance to dominate the rankings and tournaments. That has always been the case but is getting more and more extreme.
In the only mode where one can use all one's cards one will mainly fight against 'players' who are using any kind of software which has nothing to do with skill in the game (and most of them are not even using self-made programs).
In my eyes a 'player' who doesn't play is a contradiction in itself.
The idea of "idle games" never attracted me at all. If I want to have a passive income I stake any crypto currencies and don't need a complicated game with many requirements at all.