Haha dude, it's not about not playing it, it's about making it 10 tons more interesting.
Almost all of my friends would not play CS:GO if there were no skins. It's a huge marketing policy. They would play other wise but after a match, when they win a good crate they just lose their minds, buy a key and pray to RNG god. They win a $2 skin and do that again and again to finally win a 10$ skin.