Hey Snake, in Star Citizen it will be possible to have large ship with many crew members (pilot, engineer, weapon officer, marine-security, gunner, etc), some ships have more than 10 crew members. You can use cargo hold to haul goods or space-fighters.

You can retrofit ship to fulfill your needs, like you can make a pirate ship out of a military corvette, and board other ships, capture them and build your fleet. :]

You can work as a crew members on these ships until you gather enough money to buy your own fighter or trader ship. So, it is possible to play with friends (like, I can pilot merchant ship, and you can be my escort in space-fighter) or we can serve on same capital ship.

We can be pirates, bounty hunters, mercenaries, military or police personnel or explorers.
Also, if you die its perma-death. Your character dies and you can continue game as his son/daughter. XD
It's cool. ;] Game of my dreams is coming in the end of 2014.