Don't expect to be rich in no time because we are all doing or joining ICO project, if your don't work hard as well then you can't earn big, but I believe some ICO are not meant to be profited for but a service that much better if use.
Thats right there is no easy money on crypto because we are always required to exert an effort in order to earn free coins that we can exchange for real money .
Joining an ico is also a good way to earn free coins but dont expect to get instantly rich on them because ico's arent guaranteed to be a profitable business.
Overall i still agree on you when you said that ico are built for a specific reason and that is to serve people with their useful and unique service which is still related to cryptos and the blockchain technology.