Considering giving this game a go

1. The economy is massive. Competitive money making as a new player? I don't know what that means. It depends what your primary goal is. Are you just going to be a merchant? A pirate? A part of a corporation? A loner? Are you going to eventually engage in fleet warfare? Do you want to do corporate espionage and sabotage? Leadership? EVE isn't like WoW, SWTOR or the other MMO's where the economy is screwed up by gold sellers, even if there are ISK sellers.

2. A good ship is relative to what you want to do and how you go about doing it. Unlike other MMO games where end-game gear is the be-all-and-end-all, EVE is about role. For example, I was a part of a corporation where I supplied materials along with about a dozen other players. Each group of miners had corporate escorts. These escorts protected us from NPC pirates and PC raiders. Small engagements, you may want frigates, destroyers and cruisers. Large engagements, you may want cruisers and battleships. It all depends. Every small and big ship has its role to play.

3. There are safe zones where other players can't attack you, unless you move out of those areas.

4. It doesn't matter what race you are. Back in the day, race mattered. Nowadays, it's just a different backdrop to the same thing in the foreground. If you're into role playing, then they make for great back stories.

 

-You can make decent amounts of isk by mining, but you're not going make nearly as much as those who run multiple accounts. Also, afk mining is a bad idea no matter where you are. Afk miner is a synonym for victim.
-It depends on what you consider a good ship. Almost every ship in the game is useful in some capacity.
-Constantly, no. Will you be ganked occasionally? Yes.
-Gallente is the drone-heavy race. Explosions depend more what you're firing at than what you're firing.

 

Yes, you will be ganked constantly if you go out of high-sec space as all the nodes to other areas are guarded by the corps that have been playing for years and people who are just waiting for some noob to venture out so they can rob them. Unless you have a friend in one of the corps the only way you will be able to join is to become a mine monkey with a quota to fill. It will be weeks before you have a good ship and skills. Also, you don't get anywhere in EVE playing for free.. I would give it a miss

 

Join Eve Uni. Best newbie corp you can join. They do everything and will teach you what you need.
Don't assume things are gonna be ruff and you will be ganked endlessly. That only ruins things. I never got ganked unless I did something that put me in a bad place. They billion+ isk I lost flying thru low sec was my fault. Those damn russians just got lucky. A positive attitude is a must. Have fun.

 

If you don't want to run multiple accounts like the majority of players of this title seem to, then consider buying PLEX then reselling them on the in game market. That way you can spend yourself into riches and bypass all the in game methods of generating currency. You could also buy yourself, using your new found riches, a premade character with all the skills you need to do anything in the game you desire, thereby sidestepping any feelings of achievement you may get by building up a character of your own.

Yes there's is a slight sarcastic tone to my post, but take my word for it there is no exaggeration.

 

1. The economy in-game is expansive and only limited by your imagination. Making ISK to fund other operations comes down to how valuable your time is. If you have a good job and can afford to spend $20 a month on an account subscription, it might better to just buy PLEX with some of your extra cash and turn that into ISK. Aside from PLEXing, there are plenty of ways a brand new account can make ISK. Faction Warfare and station trading have the lowest barriers to entry of any major profession in EVE, so I'd look there first. Then you can figure out what your goals are from there. It must be said that trying to do too much right at the start will burn you out. Do as much or as little as you can handle.

2. The rate of skill point gain is entirely dependent on your attributes. It can be increased by using implants and neural remaps, but most training plans recommend sitting at +4 implants because anything higher than that is just too expensive. Look into EVEMon, it's a skill planner that will let you plan out what skills you want to train and it can tell you what to remap your attributes to. With a recent patch CCP made it possible to place jump clones in any NPC stations. So what I do is have a clone in my home station with +4 implants in and jump into that before I log off. That way I won't lose the implants as that clone never undocks and I get the training time bonuses.

3. You're going to die and lose your ship many times. It's just something you can't avoid. And depending on what areas of space you're in what ships you fly, your odds of getting ganked may increase. Of course you can mitigate said risk, but it will never go away. There's a mantra among EVE players of "Don't fly what you can't afford to lose.". Remember that before you undock that ship fit with expensive fittings. Sure that faction fit ship may look nice, but the mentality of other MMOs of carrying all your most expensive gear doesn't work in EVE. As when your ship gets destroyed, half the stuff on that ship goes with it. View your ship and everything you own as ammunition. It's going to get used up, and don't get frustrated or angry when it does.

4.Well, all players start with the same skills these days, so initial racial choice doesn't matter as much as what skills you train into. Drones and missiles are the targets of several balance passes these days. So faction ships like the Gila or the Orthrus may come out even stronger than they already are in the coming months.