It's funny, the entire reason I created this thread is to see how driven the community is to actually PLAY THIS GAME! So many of you have expressed that playing the game means nothing to you, and that it's really all about the struggle to earn credits - because if that wasn't there, the game would apparently be pointless.
What the topic question really reveals is... how much more is there to this game other than simply earning money? The answer many of you have given: "Nothing".
Fortunately, some of you seem to be able to enjoy this game for many of its other beautiful aspects. Exploration. PvP. Powerplay.
One thing I think this game needs - something that will likely indefinitely increase its longevity - is PvP incentive, and improved PvP combat/encounters.
We need more incentive to destroy player ships of opposing factions. The more you do for your faction in Powerplay, the more CR you should be worth to players outside your faction. Lets say the bounty on your head for opposing faction players is higher based on your rank within your Powerplay faction. If you're a rank 5, it's worth the time for other players to spend hours trying to find you in the galaxy. And in PvP combat, it should be far more difficult for players to just run away and go into supercruise.
Also, the time you spend doing credit-earning activities after you've already bought everything you want should still mean something. I think a feature that provides players with some sort of "money dump" in exchange for infinitesimal ship upgrades would be a great idea. You could do something like - 100,000,000 CR for a weapons or armor enhancement, that would increase the effectiveness of your outfittings by a very small factor. This would allow players who have ridiculous amounts of money to spend it all and get a tiny advantage over other players.
Those are just a few ideas. But I don't believe this game should be so focused around just earning credits. There should be plenty to do outside of just earning credits. And those activities should be far more appealing than earning credits. Players should have something to look forward to after making all the money they ever wanted - something that is even more exciting than earning those credits, and yet something that they can't do without those credits.