The playing environment in eve is very aggressive and its not a forgiving game to new players. Things have gotten little better with the passage of time, but its still harder to settle into than many other MMO's. Knowing someone who actively plays and is willing to help you goes a long way to making it enjoyable.
But yes, when you start getting into the gritty part of alliances and organised pvp certain expectations and demands are generally laid at your feet. While the put up or shut up attitude does work, its not forgiving to the casual players and so keeps many people from actually sticking to the game passed the first couple of months.
Dust 514 might bring in a few new players but if CCP truely wanted to increase member base they'll have to radically alter the game format or finally introduce the walking in stations aspect of the game and aim it at social gamers.
As it stands and as mentioned, eve becomes a job if you let it