I am so glad people stopped using this silly word Anti-PK and now Henry you show up and try to enforce this term to the newcomers. I think your post is wrong on so many levels that I will try to address at least some of the problems I see in your logic.
This leaves us with a harsher-than-usual environment where bad behavior is mostly unchecked most of the time. So the jackasses here are able to misbehave much more intensely than in other MMOs. The resulting hostile environment is perceived as "harsh", and harsh here is praised. You learn to embrace it or you end up quitting.
What kind of bad behavior? Could you describe what bad behavior is? All I see is a game and if someone is following the game's rules then I wouldn't call it a bad behavior. In your chess example you are assuming one of the guys just breaks the rules and considers it a victory. That's not the case with player killers, they don't break any game rules. Like it or not, this is how the game is designed and this is what this game has always been about. What you are talking about is the gamestyle, some enjoy the game this way, some the other way... and that is perfectly fine. If the game offers such variety, be grateful. Don't judge others because they've chosen a different approach.
You claim that player killers are players using the game to express their real-life hatred or anger. Can you support that claim with some evidence? I bet you can't for two main reasons:
a) it is rather hard to get to the real personalities of the players you play with or against
b) getting some real research done would be really time consuming, ain't nobody got time for that!
Also, over the years I noticed players go through several phases (or milestones). Some can skip some of the phases, if they got some external help like a friend or a team. A phase can take from several days to several years, depending on many circumstances. These are the phases:
1. Getting to know the game - You shovel shit and get eaten by scorpions. That's pretty much it.
2. First tent - You are finally able to stash some of your items. You die less often.
3. First fully-leveled character - Now you feel like a boss and think you can own anyone... with your 137 hp crafter.
4. First solid PvP experience - You finally get to kill other players with build that doesn't suck.
5. Average PvP player - You know all the basics + you spent probably more than 1000 hours in Hinkley or in TC
6. Veteran - You can probably calculate all the builds in your head and know most of the advanced game stuff. At this point you need to work really hard to stay entertained because there aren't many new things to attract you.
Each phase is unique and provides a different game experience. If you move to the next phase, it's almost impossible to go back. You changed and the game changed for you as well. As you can see I consider PvP experience as the top game, if you are stuck crafting in your cave it's totally ok, not everyone reaches the top phases (heck, some people don't even get over the first phase).
I'm trying to illustrate how all the players can live together. If you are new and you get killed by an NPC you don't get mad at it (maybe you do, but hopefully you see the point). Newbies just know there are other players seeking them and trying to kill them. It's like an NPC, but smarter (most of the time) and more challenging. They should embrace the reality, not try to suppress it and rely on the so-called anti-PKs. That's how people get better at this game. If they know they can reach that same level of the guy that just killed them then that's comforting.
If you lose a chess game against Garri Kasparov, would you call him a PK and yourself an Anti-PK? Of course not! Because it's stupid. He is just better and if you try really hard you can be just as good or better (or maybe not).
Never heard of a APK but it seems very similar to a term me and my friends use called "player killer killers" and it seems like the definition is very close...
For some reason, this PKK makes more sense than APK. Even though I probably wouldn't use it myself, I do see that you actually can kill a PK, but that does not make you some kind of a holy warrior.
But do not think that APK means nothing.
Well I do think APK means nothing. Sorry to disappoint you.
Before anyone starts labeling me I just wanna say that my gamestyle is completely irrelevant to this topic. I rarely play this game, however, being called "a PK" or "the bad guy" actually flatters me, although it's so hard to get there because I am such a nice person :>