I've been very interested in EVE online since it's release, however I've never gotten around to buying it.

How hard would it be getting into it this late after release? I know the game has been around for awhile.

I know a bulk of the action is Ship based, if there any planet side work? What about the markets, are those done "remotely" or is it actual avatar interaction?
I would have no problem with doing this remotely, it just seems odd for an MMO not to have an avatar running around. I can get over this.

Is the grinding mind-numbing like many other MMO's? Or am I going to have some fun doing it?

The all or nothing PvP seems like a lot of fun. Seems like the aspect of massive loss would keep you from being belligerent like many other MMOs.

As a new player will I just be getting raped gang-raped by other players who are more established repeatedly? Or is the place big enough that I could go and mine asteroids or w/e and not be under constant threat of getting my ship destroyed/taken?

The game looks really cool to me, but I'd like some advice/reviews from other jspers.

Thanks in advance!

It will take you a short while to train up core skills but after that you can pretty much train for what you want. Training occurs passively in real time.

Its only grinding if you make it that way, it can be fun to just walk through missions easily.

You wont be getting attacked in high sec, so you'll be safe from pvp. If you want to pvp youll have to goto lowsec, bring friends.

I enjoy the game but I also pilot multiple characters at once. Your fun is how you make it

Can you have multiple characters per account? Alts etc?
Or is it like SWG was where it was one character per account?

You can have multiple characters per account but only one can train at any given time.

Last question, is the bolded part accomplished through having multiple accounts?

I'm Downloading the trial now I'm gonna install and check it out in the morning.
I've been reading the FAQ's and other articles on the website and the wiki and it seems awesome.
Plus having some FG helps starting off in any game. Ofc I don't pimp out a ship before I know how to play, but little twinks here and there are great ^^

To achieve best results, you'll want multiple accounts if you want multiple characters.

If you haven't gotten a referral, you could sign up under me

I'll just get one account, $30 a month on an MMO seems a little pricey. Ofc I did it with SWG back in the day so you never know
What would a referral do for me? Or you?

If you have an active subscription, you can treat your buddies to an exclusive 21-day trial to join you in EVE Online. You can send 10 invites per month and, for each buddy that subscribes, you'll earn 30 free days of game time.

So you gain 7 more days free

https://secure.eveonline.com/Marketing/Buddy/

What a good recruitment tool lol.
Yeah I'll do that, but I don't want to get started tonight.
I guess you'll need my email address?

I believe so, pm to me it whenever, you can use a different email and change it afterwards for security, as well.