We hadn't heard a blip about this game before it suddenly popped up on steam. Having previously tried Eve (loved the game, hated the community), we were excited to see that this had "private groups". I wouldn't call it lonely, we've been pleasantly surprised by some of the AI's behaviour, but I do like the idea of seeing other players flying around. We had intended to eventually try our luck in open play, but when I randomly found this group mentioned on reddit I immediately signed us both up.
We're mostly explorers/bounty hunters. We like to casually RP, meaning we generally keep an idea of our characters in mind when we make choices in the game. Honestly, we aren't against PvP, but we do think it should be consensual and involve some sort of interaction between players other than silently shooting at each other. Alas, the prevalence of the "I'm bored, let's kill noobs" mentality in most games online keeps us from venturing out into the open game just yet. Until then, I'm thrilled to play in a group that will let us go about our business without harassment and without having to play completely by ourselves.