I am not currently playing EVE and never played it much, so I may be wrong, but:
- The bill that went unpaid wasn't for a spaceship, it was for the right to control the area (B-R5RB). There's no particular explanation in the game, but the fee is relatively small and serves to make "open" the default system state. It's even sillier as this took place in 'null sec,' where the central government is supposed to be powerless. However, a game with the opportunity for mistakes is more interesting than the alternative, so you have sov payments.
- There have been several large alliances that nominally controlled most of the game's territory (the first was BoB, or band of brothers). The day-to-day mechanics are much more complex than a map shows (as in real life). The fact that your alliance "owns" a system does not mean _that_ much, and managing a large empire quickly becomes a command & control nightmare. Alliances have to repeatedly choose how to respond to various threats, thieves and internal power struggles, all while keeping the players with the keys to the kingdom happy. Large alliances have been brought down by high ranking members stealing large sums of money and abandoning systems for more money or our of boredom. Eventually, the large alliance makes a big mistake (like this case) and the balance of power shifts.
- The bill that went unpaid wasn't for a spaceship, it was for the right to control the area (B-R5RB). There's no particular explanation in the game, but the fee is relatively small and serves to make "open" the default system state. It's even sillier as this took place in 'null sec,' where the central government is supposed to be powerless. However, a game with the opportunity for mistakes is more interesting than the alternative, so you have sov payments.
- There have been several large alliances that nominally controlled most of the game's territory (the first was BoB, or band of brothers). The day-to-day mechanics are much more complex than a map shows (as in real life). The fact that your alliance "owns" a system does not mean _that_ much, and managing a large empire quickly becomes a command & control nightmare. Alliances have to repeatedly choose how to respond to various threats, thieves and internal power struggles, all while keeping the players with the keys to the kingdom happy. Large alliances have been brought down by high ranking members stealing large sums of money and abandoning systems for more money or our of boredom. Eventually, the large alliance makes a big mistake (like this case) and the balance of power shifts.