General things to know about EVE Online before beginning:

• EVE has no win conditions! play is varied and open-ended, so avoid/mitigate the aspects of EVE you dislike, pursue those you enjoy, and ignore naysayers
• EVE is PvP-centric. anything can be destroyed if it's undocked, regardless of system security level ("High-Security" space is not a PvP-free zone)
  • you can be nonviolent, and you can minimize the risk of PvP, but you cannot avoid the possibility of pew pew unless you never undock
    • even if you stay docked and only trade, which some do, note that the market itself is a form of PvP; if you don't like interacting, EVE probably isn't for you
• losses in EVE, barring exploits or CCP errors, are permanent. CCP usually won't reimburse you for ignorance of mechanics or for scams or treachery
  • if something seems too good to be true, it's almost certainly a scam. never buy a contract linked in Local chat or EVEmailed to you
    • on a related note: never pay a ransom in EVE for any reason (not for your tackled ship, not for ISK/assets lost to a scam, etc)
• EVE is unforgiving and deep. if you're easily upset by loss, can't laugh at yourself, or can't use a search engine, avoid it

Specific suggestions for play, after you've created your first character:

1. do the whole starting tutorial, and consider doing all the Career Agents' missions, too (they're well-made, give you useful rewards, and introduce you to most aspects of play)
   • note: the link above points to a subsection of a huge article; I wouldn't bother reading the whole thing. just find the nearest set of agents & run their missions
2. you can be a lone wolf if it suits you, but the best ship in EVE is friendship! here's CCP's guide to the in-game corporation finder, and here's reddit's EVE Jobs Board
   • generally: lowsec, faction warfare, wormhole and Pochven groups are smaller & tighter-knit than nullsec alliances which tend to be diffuse & stratified. highsec groups are best avoided
   • if you're moving straight from starting space into a non-HS group, it's usually easiest to liquidate stuff in Jita and buy new gear in your new home
     • if you really must move stuff to your new home, use your group's logistics service(s) to move things for you. you're very likely to be killed en route if you don't know how to haul
   • leave your corporation if it's not fun & try another. note that it's possible to stay in the same alliance; vast differences in corp culture may exist even within one alliance
   • if you don't know a word or phrase used in a fleet, the best thing to do is ask with your voice. if you can't or won't, then check EVE University's EVE Lexicon page
     • it may be intimidating, but voice chat lets other players respond without diverting visual attention; using your voice is more considerate than typing
       • any corporation/alliance worth joining will happily accept & help deaf players
3. if you don't find a niche you enjoy, ask other EVE players for help! if you do find a niche, try new things every so often anyway; EVE has loads of depth
4. various rules of thumb exist (these aren't laws; not following them might occasionally be the right course of action):
   1. don't fly what you can't afford to lose (i.e. it's better to keep a buffer of ISK/assets in reserve rather than blowing everything on a ship just to lose it)
   2. don't move lots of value in one ship, especially in High Security space, because you're likely to be suicide ganked there
   3. if you're making a big purchase, hover over the total cost and note that it's spelled out, e.g. 1.28 million or 4.56 billion (good mental check for if you're being scammed)
      • if you're unfamiliar with fair pricing, evaluators like Janice exist (beware: for low-volume items, evaluators are easily-gamed)

A few broad tips:

• trust as few guides/tools/mentors as you can & test/validate if something's critical and uncertain. 3rd-party info/tooling (including my own) isn't necessarily correct or up-to-date
• seek out guides/tools/mentors and learn as much as possible from them. this contradicts the above, but the point is: other peoples' ideas/tools are constraints as much catalysts
• block toxic players (right-click their name in chat & select "Block"). most EVE players are chill, but some act terribly. report egregious behavior to CCP
  • do not report people just for blowing you up or using rough language! "PvP everywhere" is fundamental to EVE Online, and learning to ignore shit-talking is a valuable life skill