Well, it is pre-requisite up to the point that a node will be slashed in rewards for missing its slots. But everything other than that is not and cannot be forced by the protocol itself, and since it’s an open-participation system - any node can join. So it is expected for now that different pools will compete in terms of quality and services provided.
Yes, the whole system is very cool. You can read additional info on that in these particular comments, or in their whole threads: