Would you provide citations so I can look them up? You mentioned XGtE, but I didn't see anything about experience points in the Table of Contents unless I missed it.
That misses the point. You objected to the system based on an unfounded claim about level disparity in D&D 5e. I disputed the claim. You may have other reasons you don't like experience points. Those are preferences I cannot dispute unless you voice them in the context of another unfounded claim. Tell me you don't like doing math or writing things down. To that I can only shrug and move on.
It seems nonsensical to posit that XP is somehow less of an incentive because the level disparity isn't as much an issue in D&D 5e than it is in other games. If players are interested in character advancement (and the game reasonably assumes they are) and earning XP by performing particular tasks is the means by which they can do it, then they'll tend to do those tasks to earn the XP. Such is the nature of incentives.
Ok so lets assume that all the people in a group want to have more money. lets assume we setup an incentive program that rewards them extra money for doing things a certain way - not taking shortcuts which will get the job done easier. (replace money with Xp and you may see a sort of parallel.)
In one test, we award bonuses of a dime.
in another test, we award bonuses of a dollar.
in another test, we award bonuses of twenty five dollars.
it would seem not nonsensical to assume that the greater the reward the more folks who will see the carrot as worth the extra time or such and take the carrot offered.
Well, Ok, so that is because a dime, and a dollar and 25 dollars have an assigned set value.
in an RPg for Xp say 5e, that is not the case. Even if the numbers are set, the "value" is in what you can buy from the numbers - IE the value of the next level.
Now, if one suggests that the difference in one level vs the other is less in 5e, that differences in level matters less, then one is also pointing out that the potential gains from XP-based incentives are also just as devalued.
In short, if being down a level or two does not matter much in 5e gameplay, then being up a level or two does not either and so an incetive -based system that dangle a carrot called "be up a level or two compared to your fellows after a while" has less draw.
of course, this assumes rational actors. if one of them just likes to feel like they are leveling quickly hey that carrot can work even if it makes no significant different in play... just like say a dime collector might prefer to get the dime award.
but hey, we dont agree and if you have players who know leveling up quicker isn't worth much but who still crave that extra Xp carrot, thats just great!
me, i have not found much in any system that changed this dynamic and as i said, i see nothing unique to 5e that says it would be different.
And if i didn't miss my guess, you chose to not provide that unique to 5e element that changes this all on its head?
Me, i dont have any illusion that 5e for all its goodness has somehow so changed the nature of the RPG that all my years of experience in a wide variety of games is somehow no longer relevant compared to the awesomeness that is the 5e RAW.
Do you?