Step back for a moment and think about the problem that CCP (the authors of Eve Online) face. You have probably the most complex game ever made. You need players to spend time learning how to play (or you want new Capsuleers to learn how to find their way through the universe) or all of the time and energy you've spent will mean nothing.
How do you get them started? You have a brief window of time to catch and hold their interest, or they may very well move on to another game.
CCP's current answer (as of the Apocrypha expansion) is pretty strong. There are in-game tutorials for most features, and a scripted set of activities (career paths) that lead you step by step through the basic game mechanics. Is this enough? I'd say no, honestly.
Folks, I'm a Mac user. If I want to understand how something works, odds are excellent that I can find a video on Apple's web site that is short and focused on the specific topic at hand. Why can't I find the same on the Eve Online site? There's certainly no shortage of teasers for new features, and CCP is clearly able to produce and distribute video-format material as the most recent Alliance Wars videos on YouTube clearly demonstrate.
How about giving some short (5-10 minute) clips explaining some of the key mechanics and showing how they work? And some more in-depth ones for those of us who've been around for a while. I'd probably pay real money to watch a 20 minute video comparing and contrasting the various scanners.
And this would be an excellent way to help flesh out the backstory more. Having the mechanics explained with ongoing references to the conflicts between the races, the history of the universe, etc. would introduce more than the mechanics of the game.
What do you think?
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