I just don't follow your logic about getting rewarded for not winning:
- The guy who busted did not win.
- The people who came to a draw did not win.
- Nobody won.
Why should the guy who busted get hosed here? If you draw, you didn't win. And you don't seem to like the idea of a sudden death for the chance that you would lose a 1-6 roll. You can't have it both ways, lose and win at the same time. There's no thrill to gambling if everyone is a winner.
Venture Roll is just a stripped down version of Blackjack and not as complex as the real thing. VR is built to be friendly to players.
With Blackjack there four suits of cards, 32 of which range from 2-9, 16 that are valued at 10 and four cards that can be 1 or 11 (Jokers are not played by the rules I'm familiar with). Venture Roll is just dice rolls ranging from 1 to 6 and the goal is shooting for a total at or near 11.
Be thankful SE didn't put a dealer in the system, because it would always shoot for and stop near, at or just above 9. In blackjack, the dealer would stop at or just over 17 by rules of the house to pressure the players to bust. With 16 10s and 20 cards going from 5-9, this is the most favorable option to the dealer since there are only four aces that can be twisted to a 1 value and chances of drawing 2-4 are much lower than the others, anything over 4 on a 17 hand would be a bust.
SE removed the dealer and puts all pressure on players to bust, people in FFXI are generally conservative so they won't double up on a 9 (and many CORs are scared to go beyond 6).
This is a friendly wager between friends and acquaintances. I don't see why people should be paid out for not winning in any event. Its not like the wager levels are killer unless you're going to the 10k bet table. And even then, why get any additional gil return for a draw?
The guy who busted gets his gil back along with those that ended in a draw because
nobody won. That's the most fair way to handle it with no dealer, especially since players can't be trusted to be the dealer themselves.