And why is that?
Hint, I already said something about that argument.

I wouldn't play as much if active SP was removed. My OCD would thank CCP for the reprieve.

People play for lots of reasons. "Play" is highly interpretive. People also make their own games.

I might go pistol only for a few games. or see what I can do with a forge gun in CQC. In my own way I have now altered the game I play.

In the same way some people do play for the SP, or the ISK, or the fun, or the metagame. Also some people play to grief. Agents of chaos.

However the psychological sciences behind feeling rewarded are a bit weird. Having two bars going up and showing you how much you got probably has an intended psychological effect. In the same way that greyed out bar showing how much SP you COULD have gotten is interpreted by our brains as Loss, not "potential gain". This was likely done on purpose.

The fact is you could claim "Play for fun!", but in reality the pleasure you derive from that may be just as strong as someone who sees their "SP" go up from victory. Neither is better than the other, and the SP one shouldn't be ignored for the sake of others. Instead you have to balance those wanting numbers to get bigger, those wanting to cause mischief, those wanting to just play, those wanting community interaction, and those who want to just play for a week and give up. They are all potential customers with equal rights to "enjoy the game" from a philosophy standpoint.

That being said you target the most cost effective audience. Thus you have what we have.

I'd be fine with passive only:

No grinding
No/less AFK farming
Lesser negative impact of faulty skilling
Less pronounced "invested time=power" equation leading to less protostomping in the long run

I never understood how people can play just to make some arbitrary number rise a little quicker.

Less incentive to grind.

Psychology, isn't it wonderful?
I still find Counter Strike 1.6 to be one of the most thrilling and fun games ever, and it had zero progression.
I miss 1.6.

The problem is that this is why AFK camping exists in the first place.
They want to see numbers grow, but they don't want to play a game that isn't up to snuff.

I could only go along with this if they upped the amount of passive.

They do that they can remove active SP but if it stayed too low then no way I would stick around to wait even longer to gain gear/skills. ISK at the moment (hell after the first 2-3 weeks) means nothing because the gear isnt priced accordingly and the content is minimal.

For what you want to work , boost SP or at least lower SP requirements in the area of Weaponry / Vehicle Access and increase it in other skills you want to make hard or take long to acquire. Then increase the cost of good bear by a significant amount.

Many will be able to use good gear but skill and risk reward would play much more into how you use it because there would be true apprehension about losing top stuff.

The solution isn't in taking away proper player's joy though. The point also isn't to just solve the current issue. They need to prevent future abuse. Just stopping what is occuring now might help things, but they need to prevent what will happen after. If you make a bare minimum then people will find the fastest way to hit bare minimum quickly. If you monitor for movement they'll use rubber bands to run in circles.

In actuallity this kind of behavior is terribly common. Whether called Powerleveling in MMOs, or "ratting" I think it is called in EvE. The only difference in this game is that behavior leaves a hole that needs filled because participation is limited. In the same way you wouldn't PL in a "dungeon raid" or etc.

"active gain" means active servers. Plus AUR booster sales.

I do a lot of traveling for my job. I can't just carry my PS3 around just so I can reach some virtual carrot every week. EVE online is 100% passive because there's enough content to deter from accruing skills. Dust 514 is a grind you're forced to take a part of in order to keep up with the competition.
I have barely 3 million and I've been playing since January while people that have the time to play have almost 4 times that amount and the gap is getting wider each week due to my real life obligations that take priority over a virtual war. It's getting to the point where I've taken up AFK farming just to reach my weekly cap. Not because I want to, but because I don't want to fall further behind in the grind. If you take a break from other games, you don't get capped at X level because you'll never gain those experience points for the time you missed, why does it have to be that way here. Dust 514 is punishing players who don't have the time to play.

The skill system needs to be passive or people will leave because they're tired of being punished for having real life obligations. I'll even buy passive boosters if this is the case, just so I can have a reasonable chance of catching up with my friends.

I still find Counter Strike 1.6 to be one of the most thrilling and fun games ever, and it had zero progression.
I miss 1.6.