Yes, the game is difficult for newcomers. All the usual scapegoats are already listed. "Too hard to get a tent", "PK's", "No one helped them", etc. It's none of those.
The reason it took me two weeks to get my first tent with my first character, and 20 minutes with my last new character, is because I had already overcome the steep learning curve present in this game.
It's hard for new players, simply because they
do not know. Look at this.
http://www.fo2238.fodev.net/wiki/Advice_for_beginnersRent a hotel room? lolz
Shovel shit? That advice is so terrible it's almost insulting.
Buy brahmin hides? Good luck.
Seriously, is that the best support offered to new players? No wonder it's difficult for them to get the basics. "But they can search the forum lolz". Yeah, they could. Obviously they don't. I took the advice on the wiki when I first started, and knowing what I know now... it's fucking terrible advice.
If players want more people to play (and we do), we help them by telling them all the stuff they need to know.
If devs or other important people want more people to play, then stop prominently displaying such shit advice, which only wastes their time, and makes it more difficult for new players than it needs to be. Of course there is a ton of information on the wiki that IS useful, but you would have to scour it for days before playing to collect it all. Obviously, no one does that.
That's my opinion, and it's worth exactly what you paid for it.