all the folks my level are in high sec and I can’t touch them. all the folks in low and null are far far over my level. i haven’t got a chance - always outnumbered and heavily heavily outgunned.
what have I done wrong? where is the pvp for run of the mill gamers?
Getting into pvp presents a huge learning curve that all of us start on the wrong side of, however the skills you lean as a player along the way, will pay off for your character when it skills up to be able to take advantage of.
There are a couple of things you can do:
Ultimately, don’t be discouraged. All the guys that can kick your butt now, were in your shoes previously.
i appreciate that. done all three of the above (and more) and came to the conclusion of the original post.
even getting into a corp that does any pvp is extremely difficult, from a run of the mill perspective. within, other than gate camping, not a lot going on either.
fw seemed like a solution, but it’s not actually very active and mostly you’re fighting the same hardcore gang you would in null type space.
the ffa corvette arena was interesting but seems to have been deactivated.
supply seems to be a hurdle too. where the pvp is, ships aren’t. a great deal of time is spent jumping to systems just to have a crack at a 1 minute fight. 
(filaments are great… but see OP) lol
You can fight in hisec. If you suspect bait, or if you fly cheap enough when you destroy their ship you make more than concord destroys. There is also the duel option, to leave concord out of it.
Where are you flying?
One of the easiest ways to get pvp is to head to faction warfare space and just fly in a couple of systems, making sure you hang in or on the outside of plexes.
It’s tempting to jump into a system, see nothing on d-scan and then fly to the next system.
Jump into a plex and hang there for some time. You won’t be the only person roaming around looking for pvp; and if you are all just moving through systems, the chances of running into each other is small.
Just stop and pause and the others will come to you.
If you are in a kiting ship, then you have the advantage in a plex of setting up ideal range; and if something comes on close scan that you can’t engage, then you’ll have the time to warp off.
Forgot to turn safety off? 
Well, you probably didn’t anything terribly wrong. You just came to the conclusion that a lot of people doing PvP are skilled, experienced and organized and it may take a while for you to get to the same level.
You may try to prey on people not doing PvP (miners, haulers, explorers, ratters, mission runners) but on the long run you need work out to get good, no way around that.
What did you learn from Spectre roams? From this, BB, and the pre-cursors of Spectre I learned the essential PvP skills. Ship operation, situational awareness, engagement profiles, mechanics, fittings, roles, …
Many pilots here giving some good advices … if you have time and you are serious about learning , . i can help you out bit more systematic and longer term … I am here if you eager really
Grab a kestrel head to fw space. Get some fights under you. You will lose maybe a dozen or so but then you’ll get over the nerves and start getting the hang of things.
Oh also join a Corp that focuses on the pvp you want to be involved in.
Wow look at all the help. CCP your playerbase is amazing. thanks guys and gals for the tips. the questions - I’ll fly anywhere, have been all over the place. Null you need a corp and that’s fine, but then to get from where your space to targets takes quite a time. NPSI roams - yeah you do learn from them but again it’s not what i was looking for. i’m looking for a place or mechanic that allows players with low-mid skills and casual player isk (say 20m/day) to fight against each other. (and not ptw)
eve is a paper scissor stone game. You can destroy a bs with a low skilled character flying a t1 frig… of course it will less hard if you are highly skileld, but it is doable
advice for others following - at the time of writing this there isn’t really a low level arena or area. You have to be willing to fight players that have better and more… These guides were pretty useful to me figuring out what Eve PVP is at the time of the OP. https://www.youtube.com/c/Eveproguides
An attempt was made - by players and not CCP - to remedy this gulf with RvB. Its dead. FW and low are the same “end game content pvp” wise as everywhere else. Expect to pay a lot in equipment and losses.
Alliances will be helpful with ship replacements but you may find it very difficult to get into an alliance with an active pvp roster.
Just posting these thoughts to show what players experience.
You need to fly around in lowsec and talk to people. Make friends, explode, etc.
There is a lot you can do with three frigates that you can’t do with one.
There’s a LOT to do in Eve. There’s plenty of PVP to be had for all players. An area with just cheap ships and evenly matched pilots is just not one of them - that’s all.
… and IMO that’s good and a unique selling point. EvE is still a sandbox game (mostly). Meaning if you want some hand-holding, you need to work together with others. There are plenty, who take newbros in their fleets, but expect a will to learn.
I started successful solo PvP about 6 months into the game … and there were no skill injectors at this time, just a triple-neut Tristan.
there’s also for ccp to consider that creating such a space might be harmful for the game overall, in terms of dividing up the players. I don’t know… although right now there does seem to be a pretty strong divide between the hi-sec pve players and the rest of us anyhow.
There is a certain demographic of players who see EvE mainly as a PvE game and don’t want to compete with other players, just collaborate if any interaction. As this player demographic is the norm for MMOs outside of EvE, it’s a source of disputes.
I regularly dunk on newbros with my Rifter. Pilots with less than a year in game in meta fit frigates. They are all over lowsec fighting in FW. It’s not hard to find people to fight.
Undock and fight!
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