Well, it's a very long thread now, so apologies if others have said what I'm going to say.
I play both open and solo, depending on my mood and my goals for my session. I was certainly anxious the first time I dipped into open mode, but I don't think I needed to be. I have seen a few CMDRs about, and spoken to (typed to)... One! Most seem too busy doing their own thing and have Frameshifted just as I target them to say hello. I certainly hope I'm not frightening them away. I haven't found Open mode to be a richer experience, nor a particularly negative one.
Some of the discussions on the forum give the impression that open play is rife with griefing and so on, but again, this has not been my experience. I have flown in some of the 'contentious' systems, such as Lave and Leesti with a cargo full of rares, but not been approached, let alone interdicted by a real player, and that's just fine, although a few NPCs have had a go, which is also fine. I will say, i have no desire to be interdicted by someone who is just going to smash their ship into me, something I've seen talked about with pride on the forums.
But I think the real problem, if it is a problem, is that pirates seem to want 'real' victims in order to have fun, but that may not be fun for the victim who is just trying to get some credits, and I don't really see how that is going to change. Perhaps when wings are introduced it may shift the balance a bit, but I'm not sure it will.
It's a fun game, but as yet I don't think there's a compelling reason for playing open versus solo, and if that comes, it will probably come more from the scenarios introduced than anything else, but the piracy / victim issue will probably not be easily resolved.
