yeah exactly 
the general game theory on this is usually expressed through the "free rider problem"

basically 
when there's network security cost and only a subset of users pay for it (people making txs)
everyone tries to be a "free rider", ie part of the group that *doesn't pay for security (hodlers).

according to the theory,
the security of such a network trends towards zero.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-rider_problem

whether it works out that way in practice is of course another story.

but the point I want to make 
is that tail emission is a legitimate tradeoff.

there are other tradeoffs Monero makes that can be criticized 
but its not reasonable to argue tail emission makes it shitcoin IMHO.