I am with you 100% about the fact that there should be more interaction on a positive level in game. Sadly a few things are in the way,
1 there will never be a safe place for people to gather, and when people gather the trolls/lulz noobs will spawn.
2, a social structure needs certain well structure, the appeal to most people in FOnline is the lack of structure and rules, without them you just have chaos, as demonstrated by the last several sessions in game.
3, it also relies on the need for a certain level a maturity, like someone above posted there is no trust, and for good reason, I have met maybe 2 people in the wastes that didn't instantly go pknoob on me, and one was just bait waiting for his buddy. That doesn't breed a whole lot of desire to interact with anyone, and since you're not safe in a town either, there's really no point to go to one.
Three wipes ago I had barely started playing this game, at that time there was social interaction, I met people who would help you, or run places with you and level, even craft stuff for a price since there was a major CD involved. But over time the uber builds and lulz seeking noobs have driven most of the 'good' people away and some would say that the carebears should be gone, but some of the people I'm talking about in the past were notorious uber build pkr's, they just had standards so I mean actual 'good' people. When you play this game long enough and the only response to your attempts to bring any form of civility to this game are "The Wasteland is Harsh," and "Go play Hello Kitty Online nub" people give up. I would love to be able to be social in this game again, to actually MEET people and try and build up something, but right now the game isn't made for new players, it's only for returning players, and most of those are the above mentioned issues, and since the devs have stated on many occasions that a safe meeting place is COMPLETELY out of the question, I think you're right to ask "Is this game going as intended?"
P.S. Having played many different MMO's I have to note, any type of global chat will almost always dissolve rapidly into (Ass, you suck, Noob, Carebear, your momma, Anal, lol ect ect.) So I feel IMHO we should look beyond just a way to chat across realm.