So our EVE Online checklist so far consists of not going outside of 0.5+ space, and not joining a guild. However, these two might not be enough, because of the way law enforcement works.
Like Real Life, there is actually nothing physically stopping you walking up to a stranger in a busy town center and killing them. You can do it, but you'd expect to be seen, reported, arrested and put away for a very long time, or excecuted, depending on local legislation. None of this helps the person you just murdered much though - it's mostly to create a deterent against anyone else doing the same thing a day later to someone else.
In EVE, this means that if you shoot someone in a 0.5+ system, CONCORD (The EVE police), warp in thirty seconds later in practically invulnerable spaceships and insta-gib your spaceship. You also get a big black mark on your personal security standing, and eventually, when that gets to -5.0, you're effectively exiled from 'safe' space (where all the content is), and are legally fair game for other players to kill without repecussions of their own.
All very well of course, but what if a player doesn't care about dying themselves? The suicide-bomber is a terrifying prospect because virtually all laws are backed up by the possibility of something bad happening to the perpetrator. If the perpetrator geniunely doesn't care, then laws cease to be at all effective. Enter the Kestral Suicide Alt.
The Kestral is a small, disposable, missile frigate, which can be bought and equipped for less than 500k ISK, or around one mission's payout at level 3. When piloted by a minimally trained throwaway alt, it delivers the most bang per buck, in the 30 second window before the police show up, and if several such jihad pilots team up, they are easily capable of destroying suprisingly large and pricey ships, inside the 30 seconds provided. These pilots then immediately die to the police, but not before causing all sorts of havoc, in a situation where many otherwise fairly competent players believe themselves to be quite safe, and are anyway unable to take any preemptive action for fear of them becoming the target of the police.
When killed, a player's ship drops a percentage their equipment for looting, and if the jihad Kestral squad has someone else waiting to scoop it all when the fuss has died down, and before the original owner can get back there in another ship, this kind of tactic can actually pay quite well, particularly if the attack squad uses methods to pre-detemine what a potential target is carrying. Mining barges are particularly rich targets, often incapable of even escaping, let alone fighitng back and sometimes carrying up to 10 million Isk in equipment and minerals. And of course, it's a fun way to persecute specific players you don't like, who stay in 0.5+ and aren't in a guild. The more affluent bored sometimes use suicide Cruisers instead...perhaps 10 million each, but capable of inflicting a great deal more hurt in the 30s span.
Exploit? Possibly, but it's almost impossible to do anything about, without completely recoding the way the game works.
So the reality of EVE, is that nowhere is safe. It's an unashamedly hardcore PvP game, and on the basis of time/money spent fighting, and time/money lost if you lose, possibly one of the harshest I've ever played. If you believe the boards, this is what the players want, and if you don't like it, "don't let the door hit you...yaddah, yaddah...". It's "fun", It's "what makes EVE better than EQ/WoW/Insert PvE Game Here", etc. It depresses me when I think about it too much, and when I read these posts, I get the impression of a game that doesn't want my patronage, and that I have no business playing.
But then I open this map...
Eve Online: Security Status Map
(Red dots are 0.0-0.3, Yellow 0.4-0.6, Green are 0.7-0.9 and Blue are 1.0)
...and then this map:
EVE Online: Average Players In Space In The Last 30 Mins (Taken on 5th June 2005, 11ish pm, UK time)
...and I'm reassured. They may not want me, and I may not belong there, but I can find a place in EVE, and I seem to be a part of a silent majority who are all also trying not to draw attention to ourselves by doing something stupid like posting a Pro-Carebear sentiment on a messageboard that lists your in-game name and corp. EVE has no guarantees, but it's quite possible to get along without any real fuss - it just takes a bit of luck, a bit of common sense, and the ability to keep your head down.
CCP may want a good-natured dueling arena of a universe, but I'd like to think that they're pragmatic enough to be able to do the above 'Map Exercise' and draw the obvious conclusions, and not take the frothing bloodfrenzied bored-board miniority too seriously...