@bugaboo-bill
Intent of the game is to allow people to be the pirate they want to be. I could state selling before the Athena voyage is over is unintended, as the idea is to do the full voyage upon the seas. Doing a full voyage make you mass a decent haul for others to potentially steal. Yet it is advised to sell frequently and not mass loot by most pirates.
Do you stop at every ship wreck or floating treasure as they are there to be picked up on the way? That is the intent of them floating in the seas. Do you scout the full island picking up every bit of shiney on the way, as that is the intent of washed up treasure and the random captains? Do you complete the voyages in a bottle during your trip and pay attention to stop and complete them as it is intended to be additions to your voyage to get more treasure and you picked them up.
Which treasure is worth getting or not is really not an aspect to judge whether people are playing the game properly or not. The goals people set out for themselves and how much of the actual treasure that they pick up on the way has nothing to do with the intent or what is the proper way to play. Some people do not have the time. Some people just don't care. Some people want it all. Some people like to have all the numbers maxed out and some people just want to fight. We are feeeroaming pirates.
It is very judgemental to state that it is not playing the game, but the systems while you and every pirate in the game makes choices to leave treasure aside during their time on the seas; even treasure that is bound only to us, bottle voyages are a prime example. The seas are full of treasure and gold, whether you care to stop and spend time to gather it and sell it is on the pirate. Whether you are only out to gather the reputation, the gold, the doubloons, commendations, the trill of battle or all of the above that is what the freedom of choice is about.
Be the pirate you want to be, don't judge those that play the game differently within the bounds of the games design and state they are not playing the game.
A voyage is complete once you tap a chest, as the intent is to find the treasure. Whether or not you gather it, sell it, lose it or leave it for others to find is irrelevant and as intended. You seem to be keen on telling others that how they play is wrong, but maybe you should just let people do their own thing and do the same if you don't think it should be in the game at all make a proposal to fix it.
Exploits and such are deliberate actions done to bypass the design and in most cases obviously out of place and is why they are called exploits. Yet tapping chests or leaving the packages of hassle for a loss of 700 gold a pop is working as intended, it is on yourself to determine whether you want to do it. The ability to log out to get the pink flame is something that should not be in the game.