Well, first, the free isk wasn’t for new players, it was for Omega accounts. And after the last 18+ months of scarcity, where isk generation for a lot of players was a lot harder than it’s been in the past, it was welcome by a lot of folks.
That being said, I argued against it, because the primary issue in the game isn’t the lack of money, it’s the lack of people in space, so I wanted them to require players to have to do something to get the isk - hell, even just undock and shoot a rat or two. But they went this way.
This is a tough game for modern MMO players to get into. Imagine you’re a modern MMO player who is trying EVE for the first time. All the other games you’ve played start you out in a newbie friendly area, there’s no PVP, they spoon feed you up to level 10 or 20, they give you all the gear you need, guide you on how to skill up, etc.
EVE does almost none of that. It’s not always an easy transition for new players to get into the game. Now, I’m not arguing that we cater to those types of players or expectations, but you can see why CCP is doing everything they can to make the first couple of months of EVE less harsh and painful for new players who have been coddled by every other MMO on the market. Us old players are looking at these things through the old eyes, and we have to recognize that our generation of MMO players and the current one have radically different expectations.
CCP is still CCP. PA has no impact on the day to day operations of CCP or EVE. The things you’re seeing happen in EVE are happening in every MMO.