Oh, of course in case of two examples I made, there are safe areas, stuff to do if you want to live in peace, etc. In Ultima, only you could unlock the door of your own house so hiding inside would work. And inside towns you could call npc quards (so everyone would have it as a shortcut).
In Eve there are many protected systems, it’s just getting stuff from nullsec (lawless/unowned) systems could be more lucrative, so you learn to take your risks.
I know it’s not always that way - as I see from Rust memes, everyone is just chaotically running around killing new players - but maybe it doesn’t show the real picture