Joke's on you, I never started with D&D. Skipped straight to step 7.
That's cool. How did you first hear about TRPGs? I didn't include it in the post but it should be taken into consideration that this is how I think it works for many people in this time and space (surely people didn't upload on itch in 1974! xD) , but hopefully in the future more and more people can get into the hobby from alternate entry points.
If anything, because nobody deserves to play D&D, it's just so complex...