I think its very variable. If you are playing as part of a large gaming club or group then the people you play with might not quite be strangers but arent necessarily close friends either.You don't need a system for distributing treasure 'more fairly', you need a group that is willing to cooperate. I'd ask the fighter if he's out of his mind and if he didn't have a GOOD answer, I'd give him the boot.
But, yeah, I've never gamed with strangers. If that's a typical example of the behaviour to be expected I also never will.
I have been a part of groups like that where there are multiple different games running and group make up changes around from time to time. You inevitably end up with situations where people have a clash of expectations.