If you can find a server or better yet; get a crew together, it's still worth playing once you get past the initial startup phase (mining and basic industry).
Solo with vanilla pirate eventually gets stale unless you're a build-a-holic, so you and your buddies will need to put some work into the server to make it more exciting. Build some pirates, make a station, tweak the configs, then play they way you want.
Once you do that, proceed with all manner of hijinks, shenanigans, malarkey, and tomfoolery.