Although this game is not an RPG in the same style like all the others, I've noticed that some people assimilate some of the characteristics depending on what is their character's standards (in game). Thus some times we see people behaving differently when their character gains power and recognisability, than they behaved earlier. And when the character dies, they stop. Even this for me is a point that this game is some kind of roleplay game. (and I hope I'm not wrong)

But did this not happen in the Mafia world, when you come into a family as an associate you live your day to day life by respecting those that made you an associate and the Made family members like it's the last day of your life. When and if you ever come into power, yes you would still respect your family members but you expect the utmost respect from others that aren't anywhere close to as powerful as you are. This goes with power positions in today's world as well, whether it be government or business once your status changes, most of the time the way you act changes as well.

The thing is, and I'm not even sure how this would be policed/rewarded, there is no real payout for role playing other than people know who you are as a player and whatever stats get boosted by posting, which I can't remember off of the top of my head.  

But that's not really enough.  There used to be a day, where depending on the crew leader, you needed to have a very well thought out, historically relevant and interesting presence on the Streets and or Business District in order to hit Made Man.  Who's going to respect a button man who's a total nobody?  Nobody.  Your player account needs to be built on your CHARACTER, not just how well or long you can click buttons. 

However, this is really something that the players need to reinforce, because what's Admin going to do, wack people for not posting?  If more CLs were involved in the role play aspect, and read or made up their own role play tips, the streets could be very active with fun, interesting reads and interactions instead of soapbox rants that dangerously skirt the edges of OOC.  In fact I cringe whenever I see the phrase "OOC-itis" actually used in the streets.  You could role play telling someone off by suggesting they have Syphilis or something. 

As for people who spend time in character and those who just have usernames, here's the rub with that one.  Unless there ends up being a suggested naming convention for the site, so when you sign up there is a little pop up or something that lets the player know when the game is set and how to name themselves, then we are always going to have people named PinkiePie, Inuyasha, KushSmoker420 etc.  This *MAY* come from the idea that you're signing up with a username, not a character name, if you're a new player, and since the role play aspect is not always respected, people will be Kittie, _Kittie_, Kittie-, etc ad infinitum because there is no progression of role playing your character's death and who their next of kin, friend, etc could be, just name recognition.  (I'm not talking about player time gaps where they've been gone a while and come back under a recognizable name to restart, I mean literally coming RIGHT back with the same name and backstory)

I really have a lot of passion about Role Playing this game and seeing more of it, because I have almost never been in a crew where RP wasn't a HUGE part of crew life and requirements.

Ultimately, the tone and nature of the game itself is created by the players.