My guess is that they can cause all of those problems and they just didn’t go into details about it. So now everyone who thinks that a wall is a natural part of their base design will either have to risk a ban or build without it, until they decide to clarify this, if they ever do. 
There’s a difference, but we don’t know if that difference matters, and assumptions can end up being costly. For example, my Citadel of the Hierophants has been my main base on almost every official server where I played at one time or another. It takes a lot of work to build it, and if I ever start caring about Conan Exiles as much as I used to back then, I don’t think I would want to see it summarily wiped just because I guessed wrong.
It looks like this is going to be the next hot topic of discussions and ban complaints on these forums. Or maybe they’ll keep clarifying the rules, who knows
I think your PVP bias is showing here. Just like I’m liable to make mistakes when talking about PVP balance because I don’t know how to PVP well, so you’re liable to make distinctions that don’t exist in PVE, such as the distinction between an “artist” and a “gamer”.
When you play a game in a non-competitive mode, that’s what it looks like and that’s how you have fun, by achieving non-competitive goals and sharing those achievements with your friends. And that encompasses all the game mechanics offered, from beating bosses to collecting loot to building bases, etc.
Conan Exiles playerbase is far from unique – or extreme – in that sense. Go look at what people have done in No Man’s Sky or Minecraft or Terraria.
And if you don’t like my saying all of that, @Barnes put it more succinctly:
Yes. Yes, it is. One of the important points, at least.
You hit the nail on the head there, with that whole post. Unfortunately, I strongly disagree with Funcom about who or what is supposed to bring that death and decay. I think the rules should be there to get rid of the malicious behavior, not to bring a counterforce to building. That counterbalance is something that should be a game mechanic, but I don’t want to derail everything by arguing about upkeep systems 