In the 80s several charter airlines crammed 119 seats on their BAC 111-500s with aft facing seats around the overwing exits. I once had the misfortune of travelling in these seats. I remember my knees brushing those of the passenger opposite; I am only 5'4!
I happened to be travelling with a companion so the eye contact issue was irrelevant; had I been travelling alone, as I frequently do, I would have have this arrangement most disconcerting
I tend to think it is a good and sensible arrangement!
After all, what is better - have your knees pressed into the seatback the next passenger reclines into, or have your knees pressed into the knees of the next passenger? At least when you sit opposite, you can place your legs between the legs of the person opposite - you do not have that choice when it is the seatback that is pressed into your knees.
Also, what gives a wider path to emergency exit - the narrow space whence one set of legs have been removed, or wider space which had been enough for two people opposite?
If most seats are facing in one direction and only a few are opposing, then most people travelling alone can sit elsewhere and those who are with companions can choose to sit opposed at the exit rows.