Aside V: on skill
To be frank, I don't believe in "player skill" in RPGs, at least those which pride itself on it (like OSR), as there's no real way to measure even an approximation of it.
Even outside of all the high-level competitions with prizes and stuff, when someone says, "I've beaten Dark Souls" (or Sekiro, or Battle Toads, or Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom), there's a shared understanding of what it took. I get what they say.
If someone says "I've beaten Tomb of Horrors" I have no damn clue what it means, because their Tomb of Horrors was unquestionably from the one I've played.
And, like, anecdotally, I've never met any good players in RPGs. I've met hot people with mesmerizing voices, awesome storytellers, people who can come up with cool evocative descriptions, people I enjoy playing with, but not once I've thought "damn, she is a top tier".
Conversely, I've never met any bad players in RPGs. I've met jerks, people who don't know the rules, people who don't understand the concept of a shower, and, worst of all, boring people, but not once I've thought "damn, this guy is a filthy, filthy n00b".
If there's a skill gap between a n00b and a god-tier capital G gamer in, say, dnd, I'm not convinced it's wider than the thickness of a PHB.