Actually, no. Quite the opposite. This tells me you've been forced to play the game in a way you may otherwise not have chosen to because of a small subset of anti-social players. I don't view this as a positive at all. This implies open play is very limited to combat or defence ready ships, something that actually contradicts the very premise of 'blazing your own trail'.
You asked "In what way is griefing a good thing to have in a game?" and I thought I tried to answer that sincerely. Now it seems you changed the question.