Man, this has been one heck of a thread. Before I delve into a wall of general text about the whole thing (from a decidedly "why can't we all just have fun together?" point of view, which I believe was the group that Danquememe wanted to honestly talk to from the beginning), let me just thank aforementioned Danquememe for having started it in the first place and praise him for his neutral, even-handed approach to the whole subject.. Good job, CMDR.
Now, I'm of the Class of '84, the group of sad geeks who played the everloving heck out of the original and, in my case at least, had long since given up on ever seeing its like again, although hope springs eternal. So when it was announced and, after much drumming up of popular support, my own included, and then came into being, I was there from the start and don't actually recall any issue with the whole "ganking/griefing" thing. We were all too busy just having fun with our dream come true.
I was on a long break, not because I lost interest but because other things became more important, and came back not too long ago, loaded with my somewhat jaded view of the whole PvP/ganking/griefing community and a decidedly black and white view of the whole thing, bordering on the "anybody who fires on others without a very good reason is a psychopath" point of view.
Well, thanks to these forums and this thread, I've learned a thing or two. For one thing, griefers (who DO exist) and gankers are not the same thing. They're similar in some fashions, but the griefers, a tiny minority, are the ones who really need to address their personal issues before taking it out on others, they're the ones that derive some sort of sick joy from deliberately annoying/harassing/stalking others. Gankers, on the other hand, just like blowing things up. It's not personal. They're not the ones obsessively chasing individuals, they just like to have something to shoot at that isn't an NPC. I get that, even if I don't personally agree with it, but I do see their point of view.
Also, the gankers/PvP'ers are some of the most helpful individuals around. If some newb shows up to ask for advice on how to build a better ship for gank-evasion techniques or any other purpose, they're the first ones to put up links and explain the advantages/disadvantages of various aspects of the frankly bewildering (and awesome) choices we all have in this game. And they're also the ones to offer advice on how NOT to be ganked. (Shout out to Sir Ganksalot who, although not the only one, has gone as far as to devote his own time to personally teach new players how to avoid the antics of himself and players like him).
And they're also pretty fun and laid back, not to mention they share the same sick sense of humor that I have (not necessarily an endorsement, but hey).
I haven't changed my approach to how I, personally, like to play this game because of all of this, but I most certainly HAVE changed my opinion of those who don't play it the same way I do, and I do really appreciate that. I like to think that I've made new friends this way. If I haven't, then at least we've had an honest, adult discussion rather than just shouting at each other and calling each other names, something of which I'm guilty too.
And that's not nothing.
o7, CMDRs.
