I think you are both right and wrong here.

Yes, using cryptocurrency (steem, tokens, bitcoin, whatever) is far too technical and complicated. This is a problem that needs to be solved.

And yes, at their current stage, steem-engine tokens are mostly just rearranging things rather than changing things.

But both of these are problems of a technology still in its infancy. The steem-engine tokens that will be successful will do two things: they will transact seamlessly and the will provide value to the user.

By transact seamlessly I mean that the whole conversation with your hypothetical friend will not happen. XYZ app wants to build a token? Great, do this one log in and all the rest is done in the background automatically. Every action will be a simple task the user takes and all the complicated technical stuff is handled for them. Just as I don't really need to know how the federal reserve moves checkbook money around and interbank overnight loans provide liquidity to front run check clearing to operate a bank account. Incidentally, this is also why I think steem will become a utility token powering the 2nd layer solutions. We don't use dimes to transact USD. We use a 2nd layer (maybe 3rd) solution of digital bank deposits to transact USD.

And then there is the value creation issue. All value is subjective, and for a currency to have and keep value, it must provide a mechanism to transfer that value from party A to party B. The organizations that figure out how to provide value through their tokens are the ones that will succeed. #PALnet provides value to the steem community largely by weeding out the accounts that get in the way of value. #steemleo provides value to its members by focusing on investment topics. The ones that will become really successful will be the ones that offer subjective value to an external audience.

So yes, your conversation with your friend is the state of things today. But that's just temporary technological hurdles.