You can step into the "fun" aspects of the game pretty quickly if you don't mind being cannon fodder for one of the larger corporations that will even pay for y

You can step into the "fun" aspects of the game pretty quickly if you don't mind being cannon fodder for one of the larger corporations that will even pay for your ships. Eve's progression is entirely based on feed-the-meter, where you skill up by scheduling your skills to be learned over time. My knowledge is out of date, but it took me hundreds of hours of paid time to get into higher tiered ships to reach what I would consider the "fun" aspects of the game. YMMV.