Here's a suggestion: Before shutting the lad down lets sincerely hear what he's requesting. He enjoys ED as a game but wants players to be able to play a larger role in the world. Perhaps instead of telling him to go play EVE someone might explain why they don't want an EVE style player-shaped world.
i myself am personally indifferent and just want the damn persistent universe simulator to function all on its own.
thank you comrade
yes i love ed, yes is freaking awesome, fliying your ship is.
all the rest you feel nobody, you are nobody, and the npcs are just ghosts, and the missions aleays the same pver and pver, and nothing ever changes
so here the solution. Give the changes to the player.
someone wants to claim zaonce? Let them do that
someone wants to destroy george lucas station? Let them do that, and whoever wants will be defending
want to block the esport of onionhead for real? Let the player do that