On what evidence are you basing this supposition?
I’ve played a lot of games over the years. I can’t recall any of them where the expectation was new players were going to jump in, and in a matter of hours (or even days) have decently geared setups and abilities and be out mixing it up with the vets.
MMORPGs almost all have levelling/gearing processes that take weeks. Yes, they do use a carefully-refined process where you gain early levels and new abilities fast - 5 minutes to level 2, 10 to 3, 15 to 4, etc. To get players hooked on that sweet “Ding! You’ve gained more power!” ride that eventually turns into a massive grind.
EVE is a little behind the Pavlovian curve there, since they don’t really offer that levelling “Ding! You have a new power!” feedback. It’s more like a clock ticking in the background, every 30 minutes muttering “You’ve gained a 5% bonus in a fraction of a skillset”.
It’s an experience designed to a different beat. After a week of play in EVE, a new player has gained an amount of “power curve progression” that’s lower than a typical MMO, but not so much behind that they’re in different ballparks. It’s largely because the power gain trickles in in the background, with too many unrelated skills that have an accumulated but not obvious effect.
“Your shield is 5% larger, your armor is 4% more resistant, you have 5% more powergrid, your turrets have 3% more tracking, your repair modules use 5% less capacitor, you can now use Hybrid turrets with a 4% range boost”, all of which happened without fanfare in the background (mostly while logged off) has a much lower visceral impact than “The kobold dies. DING! You now have Firesword and Earthshield! See a trainer to equip your new gear”.
(Of course, the combat itself in EVE has a much less visceral impact, but that’s another problem.)
New players in EVE can get into tackle, explorers, destroyers, even cruisers reasonably quickly. That’s enough to be effective in a lot of situations. The problem is less that they need more skills more quickly, and more that the skill-gain is packaged poorly, in too small chunks, and that the complexity of the game mechanics prevents them from using their new abilities effectively.
It’s a heck of a lot easier to learn to Cast Earthshield, Summon Firesword, and go in swinging, than “Scan down target, lock it. Get into optimal range. Click orbit. Click weapons. Trigger application modules. Adjust velocity to maintain range. Watch shields. Trigger repair. Reload.” etc. etc. And that’s without even considering the rigamorale of buying, picking up what you bought, fitting it, and figuring out what you’re even going to do next anyway.
This is a more valid point. In which case, you don’t just hand out fast SP. You give people SP boosts or unlock skills specifically for flying with a group and accomplishing something together. This is what Resource Wars could have/should have been for, except that CCP… well, they did what CCP does and turned a great concept in a clunky DOA waste of coding time.
I’d be fine with giving new players unlocks of certain skill combos: “DING! You completed Resource Wars tier 1 with a fleet! You’ve unlocked all the 1st tier skills for your racial frigate type! Signal your fleet commander when you’re ready for Tier 2!”.
Then it’s a system that specifically rewards new players, specifically for flying with a fleet, and isn’t something that can be exploited over and over by vets.
