Granted, I do not participate in PvP. So, maybe I am missing something, but, this is not a “punishment” nor is it intended to be. With the factors offered above, this gives Null bears a reason to bounty each other. Makes that multi billion blop drop worth a tiny bit more…
As for HighSec, fine, make bounty hunting in HighSec illegal, problem solved. You get no bounty payout for popping people in HighSec. There, you now have a safe space " " and the system would still work just fine.
Frankly, it’s supposed to cause problems, it’s supposed to be a pain, it’ supposed to be annoying; that’s the whole point. Why else have a bounty between players system at all? For that matter, let’s just make it so if your Safety is set to green, nobody can even attack you in HighSec. There, now nobody can treat you unfairly or attack you without reason.
This countermands the entire ideology of the game. This insistence on a peach in a potato patch solves nothing.