This isn't even an abstract question about utility. What esoterica outlined was finance 101 (change "compensation" for ROI), which millions of people use in their day to day lives to make investment decisions. And stock options are an investment just like any other.
In my limited experience, stock options have significant differences from other typical investments in the following ways:
1) You can be prevented from effectively selling stock options prior to a liquidity event
2) Partly due to 1) , stock options are much harder to price than other investments that _could_ be bought and sold freely.
3) Due to the additional requirements as a byproduct of vesting, it is often impossible to pursue options at multiple similar organizations simultaneously.
4) Due to the caveats of even being a shareholder in a company, sometimes there are complications and risks. This is why there is a significant multi-page document to sign when exercising options typically.
What is a "typical" investment? There are literally thousands of different assets one can invest in, all of which contain varying degrees of risk profiles. What you outlined was the risk profile of options, which you would use to determine ROI.