Hej lowfatmilk,
I began playing Eve online in november 2008. For two months I was going around confused and not sure what I was doing, but it was full of discoveries and fun. Then, I realized I could make money by transporting minerals from a place to another but that it was dangerous. For half a month I was doing that, loosing ships in the process but getting richer anyways. Then I started interacting with other people in the game. At first I recruited someone to transport minerals with me, and then his friends, and in a week I had 10 random people I did not know, transporting minerals from me in low security space and I was paying them well and still getting richer, but dying too from pirates, etc... It was epic, and yet I had only played 3 months. And we didn't have a corporation yet ( guild ) it was just a group of random people who trusted me, and I trusted them ( some betrayed me and took my stuff, and I was hurt but in general more people were helping for the long term payments ) All that was possible because Eve online is such an enormous place full of possibilites. They call it a "Sandbox". And there's something to do for everybody.
After 4 months of playing I decided I was so sick of those damn pirates, jerks who were trolling everytime we got killed by them and mocking us, I went into an alliance that said it was anti-pirate. It turned out they were some of the best anti-pirates there is in Eve online, they have been going around for more than 4 years being awesome and fighting for that cause. And so I never left that place and today I participate in fleets and roam low security space to kill just those pirates who like to see the tears of others, and I am, too, a quite experienced fleet commander. And that in one year and a half of time.
If you are creative and curious and dedicated, there's always some way you can play Eve and affect people around you.