At first I was going to go through all of the points you brought up, summarize each in a couple of sentences, and reply with my own thoughts on them. But it would end up in a wall of text of my own. So instead I decided to go for something simpler. Basically, my own list of thoughts and observations on the matter.
1. Being able to play in any faction (even as direct enemies) is a good thing. Especially for a small community like ours combined with a vast universe like Disco's. Otherwise some factions and even areas would've been underrepresented. That, and it lets players to work together rather than against each other. It will be important when we reach point 4.
2. Being able to differentiate between a player and a character, and acting as the character is even better. In fact, my biggest prolem with Disco is the moment when you figure out who the player behind the character is. It's the main immersion breaker. Still, even with that, fun can be had.
3. Nobody can completely detach themselves as a player from their characters and assets. To prove that wrong, ask anyone to create a character from an opposing faction and siege his own PoB which he had been building for months and has plans for it. So, in a way, some factions already work against each other OORPly, imho.
4. When actual players (not characters) work against each other, the gloves go off. RP gets cast aside, every dirty trick is used. A group that never claimed to have (m)any battleships suddenly fields a cap fleet to attack a PoB. In response, weapon platforms are hugged, insults are cast, and hatred boils. That's because of point 3. Shiki also nailed it quite nicely, but from another angle.
What Binski is describing sounds more like EVE Online than Freelancer to me. I never played it, but the reports about inter-faction wars fit the description. Imho, Freelancer and Discovery were always more about weaving your characters into the world, interacting with others, trying to make sense and making your own fun within the scope of the rules and with the resources at our disposal.
