Issues with OD&D

So I sat down to play this game, and its amazing the issues that come up during play that you would not notice by simply reading the rules.

To start off, OD&D seems like a very simple game - There are three classes and four races. Every character gains 1d6 for health per level, every weapon does 1d6 for damage, and every monster gives 100xp per hit die when they die. But this simple system gets confounded by a lot of inconsistent rules.

First are the ability scores. They don't seem to do anything, except when they do. Constitution adds bonuses to health, and Dexterity increases the chance to hit of missile fire. Strength and Wisdom confer no bonuses, and Intelligence is only used to determine how many languages the character can speak. Until you crack open Supplement I: Greyhawk, and include the charts for Strength bonuses and Intelligence bonuses.  Charisma seems to be the most important stat, and is given the longest explanation with a chart to explain its use in governing hirelings, but the actual use of hirelings is never explained.

Encumbrance and weight are mentioned as an important element of the game, but the details are sketchy. A list of items is provided to use, but only a few items have any weight attached. Whether the other items are weightless or if their weight is to be determined by the referee is not mentioned. Moldvay Basic attempted to address this issue by giving all "miscellaneous items" a combined weight of 80 coins regardless of actual amount carried, and Mentzer Basic includes a "simple encumbrance" system where only coins affect weight carried. As is evident, even the smallest difference in rules can affect how differently the game is played between tables.

Supplement I: Greyhawk really does try to flesh out the rules and complete some of the gaps, as well as providing more content to play with. It does this by throwing a bunch of charts and dice probabilities at everything. It does standardize the game a bit, which may turn off the people who don't like being bound by rules, but results in D&D somewhat approaching the standard of a game that can be played.

To the people who think D&D doesn't need to be constrained by rules: Do you really need D&D to roleplay? Thanks to the internet, there are countless RP and fanfiction servers where they play without any set of rules.