Also they do things no one asked for like limiting teleporter range.
I understand your point about there not being a lot to do. I mean you're not wrong and if that's what you're looking for, I understand it may not be for you. To me, NMS is really about just chilling out and doing stuff. That stuff is largely self-directed like finding the right kind of planet ofr a base, building that base, getting the ship you want and fully upgrading it. You don't need to do any of that but if you enjoy that you can.
Being open in this way is a key part of fostering emergent player behaviour.
It's also completely OK to play it for awhile and then decide you're done. Personally I've played >200 hours. Every major patch changes and adds to the major storyline so it can be worth starting a new game to see what that's like.
IMO the most interesting thing about NMS is their marketing story. They were able to achieve enormous hype before launch, and since then they've been able to continuously grab headlines with the redemption narrative. I would love to know who's doing their marketing/PR because I believe they are very talented.