Evony gives you a fantastic seven day 'beginner' safety window to give you time to become established in the game, also with a manual out, should you feel ready to jump into PvP before your seven days are up. During your seven day window, you can follow the quests to get familiar with the game, or you can join an alliance to help you with that, or you can do both.
Evony is a real-time based game, so be prepared for a little bit of hurry-up-and-wait once you've got your things up a level or two (unless you choose to buy game 'cents', which can then be used to purchase different items in the game that assist you in speeding up the construction/training process, but, Evony is a free game, so the choice is yours whether to buy or not), which frees you up to accomplish other things while still playing the game.
There is also an in-game chat that allows you to communicate with other players, most of which require you to have a 'speaker' (item available for purchase, but you also get some free ones now and then through quests or amulets*), but if you don't have those, there is always the option to send an in-game mail to another player, no speaker required. There are also different 'worlds' to chat in, so when you get tired of the new players asking questions, or the offers for alliance, or the occasional idiot in the main chat world, you can switch over to another one and play in peace.
*Amulets are available for purchase at five 'cents' apiece, but Evony has also chosen to give one free amulet a day to all players. Amulets are the Evony game of chance. Once used, the amulet 'roulette wheel' appears, and you randomly get something from the game. (Hint: Wait a few days into game-play to use these... you get better stuff!)
Evony also has a forum filled with Q&A, Game Guides, and so much more info on how to play the game, accessable through a convenient tab located directly on your game screen. The forum is active, and people offer good advice, and assistance when you're having trouble. And when you need a little help on what your options are for your next step during game play, I highly suggest referring to 'Satan's Guide' in the Game Guides section of the forum, it's highly informative, and easy to understand as well.
C'mon out and join the fun! When you get there, drop a mail to Epona (that's me!) on server 90. I'll offer what help I can, plus, it's just that cool to know who joined because of my write-up!
http://90.evony.com/s.html -- join today, it's FREE!!