RE: BLOODY IMPORTANT QUESTION: should we consider STEEM-ENGINE tokens a security or utility?

This is a complex issue that needs to be addressed jurisdiction by jurisdiction because the position varies from country to country. For the sake of our discussion, it would help if we discuss it with reference to the US jurisdiction only. As @eturnerx pointed out, the position in the US is governed by Howey Test. Although the test itself appears simple, its application isn't. I came across an article which articulated the issues pertaining to the Howey Test quite succinctly and since I can't do a better job than that I refer the readers to the same here.

In addition, there are a few useful comments made by @hobo.media and @themarkymark in this post by @holovision, which give some practical guidance on the issue.