A poster on another forum once pointed stated that "You cannot and should not balance bad mechanics by making them annoying to use". The complaint was that magic should be reigned in by meticulously tracking spell components, or some other restriction (like chance to backfire).
Grod's argument was that the problem with this rationale is that it doesn't really solve any problems. Wizards are still just as powerful, but now the player has to go out of their way, detracting from the campaign and story, so they can scrape their spell juice off the dungeon floor.
- The disruptive munchkin ignores it, argues it, or forces the rest of the group to suffer through it. His power remains the same, and he gets more annoying to play with.
- The inappropriate powergamer figures out how to circumvent the restriction. His power remains the same.
- The reasonable player either figures out how to circumvent the restriction (rendering it moot), avoids the class (turning it into effectively a ban) or suffers through it. His power remains the same and/or his enjoyment goes down.
- The new player avoids the class or suffers through it. His enjoyment goes down.