I have spoken with a lot of players about RP and have found some negative perceptions that act as disincentives to RP. I am not saying I agree with them, but here are a few popular ones I have seen:

1. “PK seems to be favored over RP. All of my efforts at RP go unnoticed, whereas PKers get all the titles. Therefore I’m not going to waste my time RPing.”

2. “The IMMs treat people unequally and show favouritism. Therefore you shouldn’t bother RPing, as CF is all about who you know.”

3. “Empowerment RP is not worth it. I basically just RP for over 50 hours and get absolutely nothing. The IMMs can take their RP and shove it.”

These perceptions might explain in part why you see lackluster RP from more than a handful of players. This is no criticism of anyone -- it’s just that many players think RP is done in vain. Some players feel resigned to the fact that they’re not going to get anything, and consequently their RP effort is severely inhibited. In other words, “I’ll just stick to PKing. You can RP all you want, since it’s a bunch of useless emotes.”

Another observation is that a large number of players are young and either do not understand or appreciate RP. Even if that were not so, I’m sure you agree that asking anyone to think deeply is a tall order in the real world – much less in a game. You’ll have to find some way to give these players incentive to put forth the effort. Some players with strengths in fiction writing are going to feel more at home, but what about the casual non-writing player? It is very easy to lapse into the mentality their RP effort is to no avail.

I’m just mentioning the plight of the disenchanted RPer. With my characters I try to help others develop their roles IC, and it is not easy. I can certainly imagine your headache as a game administrator trying to motivate the uninitiated and the skeptic alike.