Yeah, going full inactive can make a huge difference for the rest of the team. My current ship found all the Mush and we've got full fuel, oxygen, and food stocks. Our Raluca ditched the game on day 1 and now we need 2-3 people using all their AP just to fill in for that ONE person's job, just because they didn't want to log on for 10 minutes a day. I wish there was an option for other people to jump into an existing ship and fill an idle player's spot.
Worse, that inactive character IS going to die, and when it does it's going to cause morale loss for every living player.
Typically everyone loses one morale a day. If a specific character (chun I think) is dead, then everyone loses 2 morale a day. There's a couple characters that can raise morale - on my ship at least they both were Scum and had to die. Every death costs 1 morale point. Every day costs 1 morale point.
If you hit 4 morale, it seems that you become depressed - which until cured is ALSO a - something to morale each day. Happily, 'doing it' is one possible cure for depression - but a depressed character otherwise is going to die FAST without something happening to seriously boost their mood - and mood lifting things are rare and difficult.
If you hit 1 morale, you suicide, becoming another death that drops everyone's morale by one point. If you don't eat, you starve somewhere around day 6 (if other events didn't cause you to hit 1 morale first and suicide before then) becoming another -1 to everyone else's morale.
On my ship, we're managing morale, barely, because 'doing it' gives both people a +2 morale boost, once per day. Which also requires activity and coordination, because there's very few places where you can do it - and in those places anyone can stop you just by also being present - you need 2 and only 2 characters, opposite genders, AP to spend, no cameras, bed present.
But yeah, we -need- everyone active. Desperately. Urgently. And for more than one reason.