I stopped playing the game after my first child was born years ago but I still have an affection for the game. CCP is both brilliant for making it and foolish in their managing of the game. I recall during a war that had virtually every PvP player engaged that lasted years the side I was on felt like we were actually fighting the company itself since one of their employees was involved with cheating on the other side's behalf. As I recall the employee was never fired for acting in a way that managed to really piss off thousands of paying customers. Many left but many stayed just to not be whiners about it.

I can't say I'm surprised that they made such poor choices in directing the game. They want it to not be a niche game but that's what they have and they should probably be happy that they have what they have. Unless you're engaged with other players it isn't even a game at all. It's actually more like playing a video game within a video game. Shallow doesn't even describe it-I've felt more engaged playing missile command.

That said it sounds like they're going to try to fix things which is good. I hope the game does well. I enjoyed my time there-I just never want to go back to it for the sake of my daughters :)