I am willing to get over Elite: Dangerous's lack of story content; no narrative context is given for anything that happens, there is no tailored campaign sequence, there aren't really any "quest-givers" but just hubs at space stations to accept missions.

I can deal with that. But I can't accept a single mission. Not only have I had to travel to numerous space stations in my attempt to find a mission that will jive with my faction alignment or whatever the fuck is preventing me from accepting my FIRST mission, but ALSO: numerous stations I visit do not have any missions on offer, and I have no way of telling so without travelling lightyears upon lightyears to find out!

People speak of mining but I have no idea what to do. Am I expected to do this much work to find any semblance of structure or progression to my gameplay? Goddamn. At this point, I am burning fuel looking for a station that will give me money to buy more fuel until I run out, I don't even know what happens when you have no fuel and no money to buy more.

There should have been some missions available to you in your starting system. Also, you shouldn't have any faction alignment at this point in the game.

Missions are going to be restricted based on things like your rank and how many available cargo slots your ship has open. You should look at the missions in the beginning station and see what the requirements for doing them are and then go from there.

I put 500+ hours into the game and did probably fewer than 10 missions altogether. If you're looking for that type of progression or any kind of focused story, then Elite: Dangerous may not be the game for you.

How?! ...maybe it seems like I want to be spoon-fed, but bare minimum, I'd like to know how to make money to buy FUEL, for Pete's sake. On one occasion, I looted an abandoned ship or something, and I got Trade Information, or what have you. Yippee! Items that are contraband and will punish me for possessing them, with no manner of trading them in for credits without breaking galactic law, or knowing where to go to trade them, or what have you.

@ketonic: Well there are guides for all of this stuff out there, and guides for making money early, too. I had to spend a lot of time reading when I was new as well. I think outside reading and research is required for this game.

You could look up a mining guide for beginners and outfit your ship with a mining laser and a refinery, then go find an asteroid belt. This will teach you how to navigate and use your cargo scoop. Once you are ready to sell, you can use something like http://www.elitetradingtool.co.uk/ to find a station nearby that is buying whatever you have for a good price.

Alternatively you could find a Low Intensity Resource Extraction Site and do some bounty hunting. There are a ton of guides for that as well.

Just don't put too much money into your Sidewinder and don't be afraid to run away, especially now. Skilled pilots with upgraded Sidewinders will wreck you, and basically against any other ship you're going to be like a moth to a flame. Try to get into a Cobra as soon as you can.

If you can, I highly recommend finding a group for new players, or an active group that welcomes new players, because E:D is so much better when you have other people to fly with and talk to.