Can of worms now open.
Open actually has a lot of people on, its just the poor P2P that means you'll likely not see the people who are actually next to you.
That right, can of worms.
That is why I play solo. I cannot handle human interaction of the griefer type. Or even someone finding for himself a reasonable role-played excuse to blow me to bits. I am a miner and it takes effort to full the hold. When I fly back I have no time or fancy to be murdered, costing me an hour work in a game I play 4 times a year for several days.
It is one step forward sometimes, and one step back regardless often enough, being killed by an NPC in a wing of 3 and you can't get away and die in 3 seconds. Very funny. :-(
So no, I have to play solo. Also, I play so little that I cannot get decent fighting skills. And I am not so into the game that I can pick maximized, most efficient, percentage-wise, modules to enhance my chances. Because I play little, I have to re-learn things all the time.
Player groups? I have no concept of what that is like. Small talk in the comms? Meeting someone else in some system, flying close, look my avatar!? No thanks. What is the point? Can players actually help each other? Who would bother come to escort my lode to a station? Am gonna help another? Jump 15 times just to get close? No fun.
I am in STO. Fleets are usually dead silent, no chit chat. I suspect its the same here.