No people. No quests. No missions. No fun.

I Bought this game a couple weeks ago… so far I’ve started four different files for it: my longest one being 15 days in. After the basic “build an axe” etc tutorial, I don’t get quests, or challenges, or missions, or whatever. I don’t get horde nights. It never tells me how to find a trader or other people. My first couple files started me in the wasteland biome, the third in the desert biome, so my first week of playing seemed insanely difficult. I’ve watched like 10 YouTube videos on getting started and tips and tricks but so far I literally feel like this is just a trash-collector/carpentry simulator. Every video just has a “…and then it tells you where to find a trader and that’s when the game really starts” part… I understand this can be such a cool and immersive game but what am I doing wrong???????