But if PvP play really is an integral part of the human experience, a true CEV would notice that, and would preserve these differences instead. To ensure that we always had rival factions sniping at each other over irreconcilable, fundamental disagreements in how reality should be approached and how problems should be solved.

This strikes me as a non sequitur. People self-segregate into rival factions over stupid bullshit as well as irreconcilable, fundamental disagreements, so CEV could retain "PvP play" without having to preserve the deep disagreements.

Yesterday I was using YouTube as a jukebox to listen to Genesis while I was in the office (I'm cool) and in the videos' comments a few Gabriel-era Genesis fans seemed to be getting genuinely angry at the people who preferred Collins-era Genesis. That's the kind of triviality a CEV process could leave us to squabble over after it resolves all of our deep, fundamental conflicts, letting us fulfil our lusts for factionalism and status games. Should be fun!