To any newcomer, the term MMORPG is very misleading. Take any successful RPG out there, and the key elements are almost always the same. An engaging story, not just in the world, but between the characters themselves. Exploration. Adventure. Challenging combat. All these factor in while Final Fantasy VII has such a huge following, why people are jumping for joy over the re release of Chrono Trigger for the DS, and why Fallout 3 is such a blast to play. The recent blockbuster Mass Effect, which brought controversial topics such as racism, religion, etc and MADE the player roleplay Shepard was a work of art.
So where in the WORLD are these in any of the MMORPG's? Half of the bloody genre's name is taken from a story driven gamebase. While I am guilty of it as well, I would say 80% of the population doesn't roleplay in any given sense of the word. I can't blame them either. It would take some serious interaction from the game companies to get that glint in my eye that wants me to roleplay a character. If there is no story in the game itself, why should the players bother?
Now, there ARE roleplayer servers on many of these games, but they are at best a joke. My experiences in all of them are the same. A huge " cyber " fest. That's it, people cybering in the tram between Ironforge and Stormwind, or making lewd comments over shouts. It's more of a strange flirting, creepy, and just plain childish way to act.
Come on game developers, shell out a few bucks and make your GM's get creative. Let them run quests to get players to interact, and encourage them to roleplay like it's Saturday night and its time to D&D. Of course it shouldn't be forced down player's necks. There are times we one doesn't wanna roleplay, or doesn't ever. However, until something like this comes around, RP servers should be avoided like some plague from the abyss.
Until then, when I load up my pirate ship on Eve, the roleplaying only goes on in my mind. However I think if such a mindset existed on a larger playerbase, where even admins participated, then game companies will see the crowd that despises MMORPG's for the lack of the RPG will start to flock in.
This was a post I published on my website, and bought over here to get some comments. Thanks for all the comments to my previous post, even if ya disagreed. I appreciate hearing from the community.
http://themmoexperience.blogspot.com 
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It's pretty disappointing, but you can blame that on the move of RPGs from a tabletop setting to a 'desktop' setting, if you know what I mean.
I've played World of Warcraft for brief period of time and while most of the players are kind of oblivious to the fact of role playing, a lot of the fault is in the game in my opinion.
Let me give an example, WoW players are more focused in leveling and picking up better quality loot because that's the point of the game. More so that most never even read the damn quests (not that there's much to read to be honest), which makes interactions with NPC's pretty bland if you count out those scripted events.
No dialog means that there is no consequences to the characters, which in turn means, whats the point in role playing?
Not to mention that it's pretty difficult to role play an evil rogue for example, who would like nothing more then to backstab all of his party members and keep all of that precious loot for himself.
Apart from pirating, there were also treaties and agreements. Something enforced only by the player base. I'd go into a system get locked up and held in place, and just say "I'm friends with your friends", they would double check let me go and even warn me of oncoming dangers! That is why EVE was great, and why i played it for almost 2 years straight. There are also bounty hunters, and mercenaries. The only thing that the game actually dictates is corporation, alliance, and the in game money. Just about everything else is role playing.
Also, if anyone actually read into the quests there is a lot of RPG elements in WoW, there is a lot (i mean a lot) of lore in WoW that just goes unread. Personally i don't care much for it, but i do know that i hate the alliance; why? all i know is i'm horde.. that's why!
I've seen people attempt to RP in MMORPGs and there are A LOT of people who do an extremely shitty job at it. Then again there are also some people who do an awesome job at it, like the legendary griefer Fansy in Everquest. Frankly, I'd rather have no roleplaying than god-awful roleplaying myself.
Anyways, MMORPGs have a great story to me... if you read, by yourself. If your with a group and questing, then chances are you look to the bottom of every quest giver's dialog box and just rush to completion with everyone else showing you where to go.
I solo quest, and group PVP in WAR and thats how it should be if you ask me. I get a sense of exploration while questing and actually enjoy reading every bit of juicy flavor in the quests and tome of knowledge. Granted it doesn't work for everyone, but for me, it does and I'm happy. Also, being an Ironbreaker makes it a bit easier >:-)