Perfect analogy. I think it's mainly due to people lacking in the imaginative area, not knowing "what to do" in-game. For some of us there's TONS to do, for others however they see it surface only. On the surface there's Trading, bounty hunting or mission running. In the end they think only about money instead of adventure and thus they end with trading and get bored with the game.
Right now it's a limbo point, the breaking point really. The game's been out for almost a year, full release not counting beta, and there's hasn't been much change in anything added. It's stagnant. The calm before the storm.
To solve this we have Horizon's, CQC and a few other added content as well coming our way. But is it too little too late?
People are too used to games that, whatever activity they take part in, they get rewarded well. Take Eve for example, mining in Eve is highly rewarding that even a Trial player can make their first 10million in a day or so. Elite Dangerous is not like that, it requires people to actually WORK to get what they want. Thus mining in ED, while profitable late-game, isn't something a new player can get behind for money making.
So they either ask on the forums or google and find that either bounty hunting or trading is the money maker. Now a new player goes bounty hunting and makes a few hundred thousand with easy missions, but the money isn't fast enough for them. So they spend their newly accumulated wealth on a ship with a big cargo hold and starts trading, making a decent profit. But trading isn't for everyone, I've tried and nearly fell asleep.
So the new player that isn't happy with slow monetary gain takes to the forums to complain about how the game should be changed, or how the game sucks.
Patience is a virtue, especially in a game where it, to steal a Dark Souls saying, takes time to "Git Gud".
