I'm in the process of downloading the 15-day free trial, but I find they never really get you the feel of the game, so I figured I'd ask the users who play it if they feel the game is right for me.

I used to play MMOs when I was a teen. I played some Planescape, a lot of Ultima Online and a huge chunk of time into Pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies. In fact, some of the stuff that I loved about SWG, its in depth crafting system, its sandbox style gameplay, its customization, and its player based market, is what perked my interest in EVE.

I've been told the game is pretty tough, I'm fine with that. I'm not sure what I'd be interested in doing, but I've never been a huge fighter in MMO, I've always liked exploring and crafting.

I don't have a huge chunk of time to invest in the game, but I can definitely get into the nitty gritty of a game at night from 12 am to 5 am. otherwise I'd be able to hop in for one or two hours a day tops.

I'm also a rather large nerd. What I loved about SWG is that it had a very big roleplayer community. I like keeping the RPG in MMO, and feel most immersed when around others of similar mentality. Are there any roleplayers in EVE. Does its game format even allow it, or does the game format even encourage it (by make the setting already immersive.) Seeing "DrthVder42" or "WandaSkyesIsmyHomeGirl" just kills the immersion for me.

Also, I'm really interested in the sci-fi setting. I was never interested in WoW, simply because I really can't get into swords and sorcery. I like space shits, lasers, alien races and space. I'm more of a Heinlein than Tolkien.

So in short:

• I can invest some hours, but not a huge amount of time.
• I enjoy Sci-Fi settings.
• I'm interested in crafting, exploration and customization
• Roleplaying and immersion.
• Interested in complex player run markets.
• A little combat is always a good thing.

From my tastes, does anybody in the community feel that I would actually like EVE?

Sounds like a game that you would like. I played for quite a while and only stopped recently. The thing that I would warn you about is the learning curve. It is steeper than anything ever.

The best way to attempt to ease yourself in would be to find a friendly corp. Older players are often really cool about teaching newer guys, and they will hopefully give you some kind of objective or goal, because the game can seem aimless at first.

play EVE if you enjoy staring at and navigating through extremely complex menus for 90% of gameplay time.

@ArcLyte: Sounds like SWG. I was a crafter for most of my time in that game. What I did was stared at a bunch of stats and occasionally ran to spots looking at a map to find the best resources to mine. Was still a lot of fun.

PVP is fun, if you're willing to put in a couple months of boredom. All you really need is a good pvp corp and a bc with meta fittings to be useful. Joining EVE University is probably a good idea to get on your feet and learn some basics. If you'd like pm me your email and I'll send you a 21 day trial :)

If you like playing solo then the game doesn't work very well.   Missions
get repetitive & difficult.  When I was just playing on the weekends, I'd 
go after some pirates in maybe one set of missions (bunch of small
missions & one large mission).  The large mission by itself would take
3-4 hours to finish.  This is mostly because I had to retreat from being
killed & then come back in, constantly.  If I died, that could be a long
& costly effort to recoup my losses.
 
In short, it would be best if you knew some people that would play 
the game with you, like a team.  You can't really trust the online 
players as much OR they're on the other side of the world & getting
off when you get on & vice versa.

WandaSkyesIsmyHomeGirl

How are your spreadsheet skills?

I'll actually disagree saying that the learning curve in this huge. I will say that the learning curve in this game CAN be huge.
 
If you're not into destroying other ships or being a fighter you'll probably start out trading items. (E.G. buying missles in one station for low and transporting then selling items in another system for high and thus making a profit).
 
There is also a group in Eve called EVE UNIVERSITY who you can join up with and they'll show you pretty  much everything.

It seems like a game you might like but it will probably mainly hang on how much you enjoy dealing with figures, economics and spreadsheets... In space.

I am so intrigued by EVE, I feel it could be everything I want in an MMO, alas, most of my friends are still World of Warcraft-ing. I've playedthe trial on and off every now and then, but I realize that I probably won't get anywhere on my own.

i heard that EVE was entertaining in the same way excel is. but i could be wrong

Do you enjoy Excel?

Watch death unfold.