Ohmygod Help

M name is Bobby and on a whim I have decided that I want to venture into the realm of tabletop play. I've never played and I am quite frankly overwhelmed on where to start. Do I need to have a character made or does this take place on a game to game basis? Do I need anything outside of this site to participate? I am truly interested in starting but would love some type of guidance please and thank you for your time.

This is a framework to use for playing tabletop games, Like Dungeons & Dragons, World of Darkness and so on, not so much filled with rulebooks for those game systems. You have to look elsewhere to find what system sounds like fun to play, and then come back and either find open games for that, or gather friends to start a game. By looking on the internet you will find articles that mention different games systems and so on, but you might want to ask yourself, what are you most interested in all of this? Finding a fantasy game with a well established playerpool like D&D 5e? Maybe Sci-Fi is your greatest joy, the perhaps some of the star wars rpg systems might be good. Superheros, many any fine choices exists, Mutants&Masterminds. Is anything fine? There are universal games systems things like GURPS to play games of any kind of flavor. This roll20  blog post mentions what the most popular systems are for now, if you want to better your odds getting in games with open spots for players. Browser the LFG forums for games and see what's around.

I figured starting with D&D 5e would be best simply because its the one my friends use back home. Do I need to find and study these systems before trying to jump in or will having access via the internet to rule books and the like be satisfactory? I even have an idea of what kind of character I'd like to play just no idea how to move forward and I fear getting into a game and being irritating to the other players.

D&D5e sounds like a fine first choice. The basic rule for it are free on their homepage that you can get familiar with, and there are many guides and/or youtube videos for how to play or of actual gameplay. Character creation guides are also out there. There exist games open for newbie player, but some basic grasp of the system is needed at least even for them.

Thank you. I hope to enjoy playing very soon. If you or anyone else has any more advice it will be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to Roll20 Bobby, in addition to Andreas' fine advice I'd encourage you to check out  this thread for some helpful 'getting started' tips (please note the tutorial currently has some issues but will still give you a good starting place for using the VTT). It is also worth noting that there are many, many more players out there then willing victims GMs which can make the application process a bit daunting. Patience is certainly required... and be aware that you may not find your perfect group at the first time of trying. I recommend attending as many one-shot games as you can to meet a variety of people and find your best fit. While waiting for a game you can certainly help yourself have 'player appeal' by taking the time to familiarise yourself with a ruleset (even if you can't apply that knowledge straight away) as well as making your own tester game here at Roll20 to become familiar with the VTT and it's functions. Both of these things show a can-do attitude that will appeal to most GMs. Most of all, have fun :) Good luck.

Thanks for the welcome :). I have been trying to get as much knowledge as I can from the compendium but quite frankly am a little overloaded. With me I've always been more apt to learning from doing. Its how I've learned every card game I've ever played. I am trying to be patient but I desperately want to experience this world. Any more ideas or if you happen to know a gm who'd be willing to help a new player drop them my name. Thanks again.

Youtube... a great place for 'getting a feel' for it. You can watch how others play and see how they use the rules etc. While never quite the same as doing it yourself its not a bad way to learn by proxy.