Usually in the context of this game "content" ends up being defined as "persistent player-generated assets like bases and stations" and "guilds" whilst gameplay ends up being defined as "open mode only". It's been going on since the game was released, and it probably ain't going away any time soon.
It got boring to see the same threads reworded on the forums even pre-release, but that lobby is unwilling to concede defeat whilst they still have the energy to moan about it, and they appear to have boundless reserves of energy to moan, so everyone else just has to learn to tolerate it.
However, those that wanted a greater variety of gameplay types, or more depth within the actual mechanics of things like trading and exploration - they have been purposely ignored and marginalised by FDEV, whilst being ridiculed as "muh immershun" forumdads by those that FDEV has chosen to venerate. I'm not surprised. Combat = dollar signs in many other games, so why not follow suit?
This game does come across as a budget game with delusions of grandeur at times, despite the pretty pictures. The architectural decisions made at the beginning of development pretty much cemented the current limitations in place, unless 2.3 or an upcoming update has big surprises yet to come. But let's face it, the devs have caved in to the demands of quite a few overly-dramatic lobbying groups among the player base in the past, so why wouldn't people bemoaning a "lack of content and gameplay" be encouraged to keep going? FDEV established precedent, after all. So constant griping about lack of content or gameplay after each new update is kind of their own fault, and they have to accept it.
(It is still boring as heck to wade through on here and reddit though.)
