.... and Frontier chose to implement CGs, like Powerplay, so as to be accessible from all three game modes, in keeping with their approach to player freedom and the single shared galaxy state.
And if that was working great, there wouldn't be an issue with CG's essentially being all but guaranteed to be successful unless they specifically create an opposing CG. A community goal without a way of opposing it is not a community goal. It's just FD throwing crumbs out to keep players busy between releases or looking to progress some plot along their own pre-defined story. Make every CG have an opposing CG and you can end that argument.
It's not surprising that some of the PvPers are worried - as they've probably been telling players, who have complained on the forums about being attacked by other players, to "git gud or go Solo" - so they did....
There are complaints (many complaints) about Powerplay being accessible from all three modes, just as CGs are - usually from players who want to directly oppose other players. Frontier didn't choose to implement Powerplay that way though - if players *want* to engage in Powerplay related PvP then they can choose to - by participating in Open - otherwise they can choose to participate in another game mode.
Not every player enjoys being attacked by other players - that much is evident.
You're assuming the way FD implemented these things is at all a good implementation. Powerplay puts players against other players but in an indirect way with a minor almost non-existent amount of optional direct opposition. Powerplay, even when in Open is 99.9999% PVE. The different things you do in powerplay do not benefit player vs player interaction at all. In fact, you're wasting your time attacking another powerplay player. You dont get more points for killing a player. You take longer doing it and you end up risking your own merits if you lose. Powerplay pvp is simply an opportunity-based interaction that is essentially all role-play.
That's how it currently is. The complaints on the PVP-side have been to make it more direct player vs player action rather than all PVE as it currently is.
If we're going to paint Open as PVP'ers playground and solo and private as the PVE'ers playgrounds, then I dont see anything wrong with PVP'ers asking for Open to incentivize PvP interaction.
I think that's what most PVE'ers are missing from the PVP'ers posts. PVP'ers want incentives associated with player vs player combat because it's harder. That doesn't involve removing anything from PVE'ers.
Either way, the stalemate in what the multiple incompatible gamer-types want with this game is the evidence to why there are universal laws like "jack of all trades but master of none". I wish FD would stop being scared to commit to something and just go all in one way or the other and build the game the best that it can be. It's nobody's perfect if it's everybody's average.