As the players all across the ten starting areas were dealing with the reality that they were truly given a world where players decide everything, that came with both the wanted and unwanted things that came with such freedom. The freedom to truly have an open world that is decided only by the players, where all their choices matter. Rather than having so that their choices are the only choices being made, it assures that there are no outside forces or outside influences on those choices. They can not claim that the developers took their choice away from them if all the choices they need to make are their own. They were given all the tools they could have ever wanted or needed, and now it was fully up to them to decide how to use them.
The lack of NPCs in the starting area was to remove the choice of deciding for themselves what they wanted to do at every and any level. After all, this was a purely player driven world, after all. Thus, players should make all those choices without anyone telling them what to do or how much something is or costs. That is something they should decide for themselves and amongst themselves as well. The lack of NPCs outside the starting area, as well, is to give them the choice of how to get stronger on their own, as there is nothing out there whose mere purpose is to give them a way to get stronger. They do not have clear cut way of getting stronger, just presented to them, as that is another choice that they were given back instead of it being decided for them.
However, when it came to the realization that there were no NPCs of any kind located within this game at all, that was when it dawned on everyone that they were basically stuck with only the clothes on their back at the moment within the game. As the developers did not even give them starting gear and equipment at all. The only thing they brought into this world was themselves and the very clothes they were wearing, as whatever they were wearing in reality. That was somehow translated into garments that fit the setting of this world, and they were just that, too. Nothing more than garments, as they were just everyday clothing with nothing unique or special to their design or purpose.
Their inventory was also extremely limited as well, given that it was literally the amount of pockets and space their clothes had themselves. They did not have a unique or separate space for items, such as they just had whatever pockets they had on them currently. This was another restriction that was placed on them by the developers, as they were given freedom in this aspect as well. Rather than giving them the traditional unlimited inventory system, or even a limited version of it where the number of things you could store was limited but the amount for each thing was unlimited, or at least capped at 99 at the bare base amount. Here, if it did not fit in your pocket, then you were not getting it into your inventory. Pulling up the inventory screen worked the same as expected by the manner in which it worked, but beyond that was unexpected.
Again, the player would complain only to be met with the same reply that they were clearly and plainly told that every and anything was to be player drive, and that they were going for ultra realism in numerous areas, with inventory cleared stated as one of these areas. If inventory were to be expanded, then it would fall solely on the players to expand it beyond the base level. This type of inventory even spread to the starting area as well, as everything would hold exactly what it looked like it would hold as well.
Also, they discovered that there were no hidden chests or items located within the starting area as well. There was no looking around for items that might be present within the starting area to give them an advantage or head start, despite looking around every nook and cranny. Every chest they did discover was empty, and every box that was destroyed only revealed a mess that needed to be cleaned up now. When questioned about this, the developers questioned, in a world where players decide everything, why would there be random chests and boxes that have items within them? That is not something the players decided, so why should it be added to this game as a result? Leading the players to realize that it was not just the starting area, but this entire world did not have random chests, boxes, or other things to discover with items just in them. Items waiting for them to be claimed by the player, regardless of whether it made sense for them to even be there in the first place.
Leading to players being angry over the lack of this, however, they were then corrected, as items and other things to find did exist in this world. However, the random out of place kind did not, as again no player decided that, thus they were present within the world. If a player stumbled across an armory, then it would make sense that there was a load of weapons and other things located within. If it made sense to be there, then it would be there, as what to do with such a thing would be the player's choice. The developers created it so that the players themselves could decide what they were going to do with it.
As a result, this left more players to just drop the game entirely and just not interact with it anymore. They were free to do that, as that was also a choice they had as a player, after all. They could choose not to play, though they could not leave the beta test area, though. It was still a fully stocked and furnished area, though. They could not leave, but they could play another game, along with several other things they could still do. To play or not play after realizing what the game truly was, as opposed to what they were assuming it was, that was also a choice given to them. They were not forcing them to play it if they did not want to, just that they could not leave the area, as they were keeping this game under wraps and did not want anyone else to learn about it. They were not taking any chances, as one of the best ways to prevent a leak was to prevent anyone from being given any chance to do so, even if it was minor.