Eve is also an even-playing field. Everyone spawns into the game world the same way and gets to make their own destiny.
In Eve, no-one is defenceless, and no-one can even die. It is just a free-for-all open world game where we gather and build and fight for supremacy. It’s pretty sad you can’t see this.
Miners (and exploreres, ratters, missioners, haulers, etc.) are given an inducement to play as the prey item for the other players in exchange for resources. Other players get to play the role of predator and take those resources. The smart and careful gathers avoid getting caught and are better off for it. The bad ones get eaten and are content and resources for the other players.
This is the core design of the game and always has been. The New Halaima Code of Conduct is a manifestation of this core idea of the game - that we are all each other’s content playing in a virtual PvP playground. The Code puts a light RP face on it, but basically just is a flowery version of The 8 Golden Rules as well as a banner that servers for like-minded players to rally behind. The OP is correct to observe that it isn’t a real RP group or just a bunch of griefers, but actually something - say a philosophy of what Eve is - that a subset players believe in, some quite strongly.
The CODE. Alliance could go away tomorrow, but the ideas of the Code will live on forever. Only CCP (or a new owner) deciding to throw out several core tenets of the original game design could kill it, and if they did that, would Eve really be Eve anymore? That is a point for philosophers I suppose, but I think pretty much everyone can agree that New Eden is a richer and more interesting place with The New Order of Highsec and the CODE. alliance, and that this player-built narrative is exactly the gameplay CCP set out to enable so many years ago.