But the fact remains that sometimes the romantic ideal of taking up armed struggle against one's oppressors becomes strong enough that we want to play it out in a game.
Emphasis added by me.
There is nothing in the reality of the EVE universe that fits into any romantic notion,
anywhere.
The outlaw factions gain an edge by exploiting their population even more harshly than the empires do.
The outlaw factions gain an edge by not upholding any kind of social apparatus that takes care of the weak.
The outlaw factions gain an edge because they are not hindered by CONCORD regulations.
Basically, the way I see it, outlaw factions can do all these amazing things because they have no morality whatsoever.
Anything goes.
I do not deny the possibility that there may be a safe haven 'out there' where one can build their own future with your own wits and strength, but outside the empires the dragons lie.
In an empire you are
somewhere on the social ladder, in lawless space you are outside of all social ladders making you prey of
everyone. Of course here I am only referring to a regular person heading to the great unknown.
It is quite different to the sociopath/psychopath part of the population that have found employment in the empires in the business of killing people, military/mercenary work. They thrive in a place where you make your way by taking everything from those weaker than you.
Senn, Serpentis are a perfectly legitimate corporation that buys its security services from the Angels in 0.0
Sansha opening wormholes on whim? They've spent years applying all of their resources into researching wormhole space.
Guristas? Marriage of Caldari and Gallente tech. Caldari refuse to apply Gallente combat technology out of pride of their missiles while Guristas have no such moral restrictions.
Angels, all PF about the mentality of the faction is that it is divided and their basic mentality does not encourage building a healthy infrastructure. Their tech, scavenged Jovian tech, just like Blooder tech is scavenged Takmahl tech.
One thing that seems to skew the perceptions of the players playing capsuleer characters of their chosen factions is the fact that you are playing capsuleers. In the empires capsuleers can't affect anything, the infrastructure and the social structure sees our kinds of capsuleers as tools that work outside the regular societal paradigm as free agents doing chores that are higher risk than what they would justify using their own resources for. In the 'outlaw' space capsuleers can reap the rewards of their work, instead of being glorified errand boys. I think this skews the whole perception somewhat.
Then lets talk about infrastructure.
To have a scientist, you need a stable infrastructure with a good school system.
To have research, you need those above and a whole lot of excess resources within the infrastructure to be applied to the research.
You can't have either when you levy those living in 'your space' for the supplies for your military.
Only two factions doing real research are Sanshas and Serpentis.
Sanshas have their own 'utopian' infrastructure to create scientists and research.
Serpentis use those of the empires to hire themselves scientists because they are a legitimate company.
Guristas steal their research.
Blooders scavenge theirs.
Angels scavenge theirs and get access to the Serpentis breakthroughs.
Mordus get theirs from Caldary Navy.
Enough of rambling, I need my brekkies.