Matchmaking whether you want to or not

can anyone just clarify something for me? i made a character yesterday for the first time. have never played online b4, know nothing about it. at the start, it says i can make a small camp, @heartland. however, camp is NO WHERE to be seen. also, won't let me do anything, until i "steal a horse mission". is this honestly required in order to move forward?? it throws me immediately into matchmaking, puts me w/ some random, then proceeds to not tell me anything at all. have never played b4, so how could i possibly know what to do? some hectic stupid ass mission about stealing a damn horse. but i don't want to steal a horse. i thout, it would be just like offline story, except online, custom character, w/ other real people out in the world. however l, @ this point, (granted i know I'm not far in, literally haven't done a first mission yet..) as far as i can tell, it's just an open world, with NO STORY like the offline, & anything you try to do, throws you into matchmaking, w/out a second thout or a, "would you rather", or a, "here's what you do". is this really what red dead online is like?? is it really this fkn disappointing?? again, sorry, i don't really know anything about it. hell, I've never even played red dead 1, so i literally know nothing about this. i attempted the mission anyways, but again l, don't really know what to do, & the whole time I'm trying to "steal a horse" I'm repeatedly just getting gunned down... is this all there is to it? or do i just need to get past this? i only ask, because if this is what it's like, then i honestly have no desire to go any further with it, At All. (also, i got like 3 messages saying i got some kind of gifts/rewards, but have no idea what they are, or how tf* to get them... any suggestions...?)

/r/reddeadredemption Thread