Carebear and gank... lord how I loathe those terms.
To me MMOs are about interaction with other people. Most of the time those interactions are positive. Trading, crafting or enhancing gear I can't do on my own and dungeon runs.
Othertimes when someone does something stupid for the heck of it or decides they want to camp mob spawn points people need for quests I have simply walked up and murdered them.
At that point it's not so much pvp or the thrill of fighting another player as I'm filling a role the devs failed to ... namely idiot control.
Open world pvp without safe zones means those folks who like to be idiots for the fun of it will very soon find there are almost as many people like me out there as them.
The world will be a far better place for it.
The reason I hate the terms carebear and gank is the connotation they have gained over the years as people joined one camp (pve) or the other (pvp) somehow reinforcing the erroneous conviction people seem to have that the two cannot coexist.
Let's be realistic. A real pvper is someone who is bored with combat mechanics that can be memorized. Which includes almost any instance from modern mmos.
25% health on boss have your fire pots ready as he sets the floor on fire. At 10% it's a DPS race no heals all deeps.
Boring.
A thinking player will usually offer far more challenge and the pvper will typically learn something new.
Such as a healer in Aion simply rooting a Mdps in the abyss and watching his flight time run out and him fall to his death.
COE seems to strike a balance. There is a goal in every encounter with another player. Be it gain territory (war) or gold (deviant). It doesn't mean a person has to be killed or even incapped to accomplish that goal. But still invites clever thinking gameplay.
For those who choose to be idiots and commit mass murder for the sake of it... see first half of this post.