Some launches, like Dogecoin's, are done ethically with no pre-mining. Look at the coin creator's launch plan and if they violate (as the recent Coinye coin did) take them to task for it (Coiye crashed and burned).
Put differently, my point is that "ethical" launches are simply good marketing, and are quite compatible with the sentiment expressed upthread that "[altcoins] are schemes to lure money into the creator's wallets". If a given coin becomes popular, the creator is going to profit immensely from it whether or not they engaged in pre-mining. By doing an "ethical" launch, they're making it more likely that the coin gains significant adoption, albeit probably decreasing the expected size of their payout. That seems like a smart play, given diminishing marginal utility of money, etc.
Ignoring the "evil" bit, this sounds like a false dilemma. Running a mining "rig" is not a full-time job; the people I've talked to who are into mining treat it as either a hobby or a passive income-type side project.
Not to mention that your computer is unusable while it's mining. My point being, it's not a get rich quick scheme for everyone.
Depends on your computer. I mine 42 coin and code/watch movies and there's no noticeable performance hit other than my computer being warmer than usual.
If you must have the coins in anticipation of their rise, just buy thousands for them for a few dollars.
No gaming probably though.
You can point your miner at their pool, and an algorithm decides which coin you mine at any given moment based on profitablity.
They have a pool for scrypt & SHA256 miners.
edit : use a multipool which mines for the most profitable coin.