It means a million different things. The "accepted" way to play these days is comic book style with heroes vs. villains. It is more like interactive improv theater than the ancient style of RPGs with dice and graph paper maps. Although that still exists, it's called the "Old School Renaissance" and you can find them if you search.

The actuality is that you're going to be with a bunch of strangers and you may or may not like them. People's personalities come out in a weird way in TTRPGs and you're going to get people basically giving themselves therapy. People say they want to play and then constantly no-show, they'll use the entire session as an excuse to crack stupid jokes, deliberately sabotage things because they think it's funny, etc. Then there are the DMs, and there is an entire different set of problems with them. The latest adventure module I saw sets the players to find a witch in a community, it's a detective story. They're supposed to talk to witnesses and find out whodunnit. However, there is no witch, and the point of the adventure is to expose your players as horrible people.

If you get a good group, congratulations. But most of the good groups are closed to new members and have been for years. Once you get a good thing going, it's hard to give it up, and new players just ruin the vibe you've got going.