This article provides a general overview of attributes and skills and was written for players new to the game. In case you would like to get a really good understanding of attributes and skills - please take a look at the EVE guide offered by Killer Guides.

When it comes to building your character on Eve Isk, your in-game build means even more than your pre-game build. The most precious commodity in EVE is not Eve Isk, it is time. All skills, including those which improve your attributes, are learned in real time.

That means that not only is it impossible to grind experience like other MMOs, but also that the person who can manage their time wisely and get their skills quicker than other people will always have an edge in the game. Consider your play style when choosing which skills to learn and when.

If you plan a fast start and a slower end game, then jump right into the skills for the profession of your choice. However, if you want to dominate the end game and are willing to give up some time in the beginning, consider the Learning and attribute skills first. Learning especially is a difficult skill to use well, and most players of EVE have misused it at some point. It allows you to have a significant negative time bonus while learning any skill, including the attribute skills.

Players generally either concentrate too much on this skill, therefore, or not enough. The trick is to know when you really need this. The player guide in EVE recommends starting with alternating Learning and the attribute skills which will accelerate Learning, after which you can move on to the attribute skills which will hasten your learning for the skills you actually need.

This approach is tested and true, however it is extremely slow starting out - you may not actually be able to play certain parts of EVE at all while training these skills, as you will be weak in both combat and mining. If you take this approach, consider the learning time to be almost pre-game, and realize that you will not be able to really play the character you want for quite a while.

On the other hand, new players (especially pirate hopefuls) tend to not touch Learning at all. Preferring to head out, guns blazing, they get through the early skills quickly enough that they tend to be ahead of other players who started at the same general time. The only problem is that this does not last long in terms of game play. About mid-game non-Learning players will start to notice the other players gaining on them, and may have to scramble or even stay docked for a few days before they can venture out again with a decent skill set.