A game unlike any other,.. worth your time to try.
First and foremost ask questions. Complete all the tutorials. Ask more questions. Join a corp soon after completing the tutorials. (I recommend EVE University, they teach all about EvE and will show you how to get the most out of the game.)
Always have your character training a skill. Even when you are logged out your character can train skills. ALWAYS TRAIN SKILLS AND KEEP YOUR CLONE UP TO DATE!!!
With so many choices to make ISK (game currency) between mining, mission running, hauling, producing, stealing and many others, the hard part is making your mind up on what to do. Because to make lots of ISK and wield lots of power you will have to specialize at something. And that's where knowing what skills to train is important. The more you learn, the bigger the game gets.
All of this takes time learning the skills is done in real time. There are lots of skills to choose from and all have five levels of training. Each skill is ranked from 1 - 16. Meaning, to train a 16 ranked, lvl 1 skill will take 16 times longer than to train a 1 ranked, lvl 1 skill.
Certain skills open up bonuses and enable you to train more advanced skills.
This is a game that takes years to play. So patience is required.
I've had a character since 3/08 and I am still learning the game. One of the best game experiences I've had to date considering the depth and steep learning cliff.
I rated the difficulty Hard not because the game is hard to play. In no way is it hard to play. What I have found hard is knowing how to play it WELL.