The Eve alpha clone thing will be interesting to see how it plays out; sure, they will gain players, which drives community, but they will also lose subs by ppl that are mostly still there to keep in touch. Then there will be min-maxers that unsub and train up all their alpha skills for free. Then there are the gold sellers and griefers that will love disposable accts. In the end, though, if they can curb abuse, it should increase active player count, and that's good for everyone.
I don't know, I wasn't in on the hype - I just found it and thought it looked cool. I'm enjoying myself ~50 hours in. Apparently it was supposed to be multiplayer? I don't know, but it's def a cool single player game.. especially if you're stoned.