You apparently know the design forums better than I, but at least we both associate PvP with "engaging" by nature...
To refer in brief to one of the original threads by Sandy:
-Pirates should be intimately aware of trade routes. Yeah, right lol. They should be intimately aware of the nearest CG or agriculture system.
-'This knowledge extends into knowing how to trade on stolen goods through fences, or get cargo histories "wiped"'. Quoted directly, don't need to say any more.
-Pirates should be skilled in technical combat. Which turned out to be "pirates should be skilled at aiming a hatch breaker that doesn't even require shields down".
-The ability to wage non-lethal combat and
effective psychological warfare...oh look, PvP
was part of the design discussion for piracy

That boiled down to "put up with insults from target", or "have a nice discussion with them because the only people that give up cargo do it out of pity".
There's more to refer to, but it's a nice highlight of how badly awry piracy and criminal gameplay went. With how dull and unrewarding criminal gameplay is, I am not surprised mindless murder looks engaging in comparison.