Its more like i think sats zapped to me are a gift and I'm obligated to pay them forward rather than hoard them for myself so I zap freely.

If I didnt get any zaps I'd be buying sats for nostr and would ask myself "why aren't I saving these"? This would probably lead to me just lurking and interacting with other people very rarely.

I think zapping/getting zapped is a core part of the nostr experience but if it started to feel like I was paying a subscription I would enjoy nostr much less.

For what it's worth nostriches are great and make it really easy to be self sustaining sats wise.