It's true asking for pre-fight conversation is too much to expect in a PK game. But shouldn't there be some reason a character chooses one target over another? Besides just that he's there and in PK range?

The -very best- RP I've ever gotten from a kill is someone who spontaneously told me that he killed me for my stuff in service to an evil faction. The nine other PKs (plus several thwarted attacks), I've had to prompt people for RP, with indifferent success. (Newsflash: If you're supposedly trying to intimidate someone into serving <insert evil group here>, you might want to mention its name.)

And while I can understand truly diabolical characters slaughtering random passerby, it's still kinda hard on newbies. Are there no corresponding roles where people try to adopt characters into their factions? If I see a playerbase overwhelmingly hostile to me - IC or not -, why should I stick around?