I think an important question here is: Do you want a playstyle that is somewhat competitive, or not?
There are options in both cases, but they will be different. Trade, for example, can be done in just an hour or so a day (there are many sorts of trade, ofc) - but some of the ways you can do it are more 'head to head' with other players than other ways. I used to do trade for just a little time each day, but with very high value items, and it was fairly brutally competitive with just a couple other players who traded int he same items.
On the other hand, you could just find price imbalances across regions, do a bit of hauling, and undercut locals with your sell order - that's somewhat less of a .1 isk game (depending on what you're selling).
You could do courier missions until you have the faction standing to set up POSs in high sec, then sell your services doing that to the highest bidders. There are some fairly novel ways to make a living in Eve.
As far as IC, the GRIMDARK, etc. - just because the setting is sometimes a little unpleasant doesn't mean your character has to be. I've seen a lot of characters that were downright bubbly even in the face of all of the setting's unpleasantness.