I think rather than trying to come up with inventive ways to remain stuck in the stone age using video cards to mine crypto, we should welcome the advancement of ASIC mining technologies as an inevitable step in the evolution of alternative blockchains. Over time, the cost of these devices will decrease making them more affordable.
This new technology will help to increase network hash rate, improve security, add stability, and bring more legitimacy to digital currencies as a whole. What I suspect we'll see more of is "group buys" where several miners agree to pool their money to purchase an ASIC and then divide the coins mined among the group. There will also be leasing options available.
If cryptocurrencies are going to thrive, we need to stop worrying so much about easy mining, and start focusing on actually using these currencies to buy products and services, and only exchange them into fiat when absolutely necessary.