i have jumped for credits, and i think its slightly detrimental to gameplay. you need expensive gear, and it IS grind, and you need to coordinate well and know your stuff to some degree, and yes, it offers group efforts and team work and fun for the group that is jumping, however they dont contribute towards the experience of anyone else. and thats a problem, i think.
lately i have found that i never ever ever meet pirates, and when i pirate i never ever meet traders. i have been doing cardi runs for ages without being caught, and lately i started transporting luxury food through the omegas and only once have I been pirated by a sair. i very rarely meet other traders on my route. dont know if it is because everyone is busy jumping or cybering in NY, but random interactions are becoming far more rare.
its also not true that only "experts" do it - i've been playing lots with new players here, and they ALL want to do jumptrading - in the past a cap was the goal for new players, now its a jumpship for trading. they might give up their venture when they realize the number of players and level of coordination required, I couldnt say, but the fact is that a lot of people want a piece of this interaction-less mechanic, simply because it more or less guarantees 0 unwanted interactions.
the game needs to provide mechanics that promote more random interactions, rather than the opposite in my opinion.
