I\'ve been dealing with these issues for my entire online career (It\'s been over 7 years now). As such, I can honestly say that there\'s no point in getting your emotions up about it. Relax. Not relaxing makes things worse.
Taverns are a good place to start RP. This is true. They should not, however, be looked at as the ultimate center for it. This becomes unrealistic, and results in nasty bouts of \"I RP here, I PK there, the two are not connected\". Really drags things down.
Eventually, RP cliques will most likely occur. This will both add to the RP, and make it more difficult to join. It\'s where the \'guild\' mentality came from to begin with, along with the misuse of the term (Most \'guilds\' are \'clans\' or \'gangs\', but that\'s just part of the terminology). There will be RP snobs. They will drive newbie RPers away. They will be annoying. Hopefully the nature of the game will keep them from being a pain.
Eventually, some people will get bored of RPing, but have their friends around still, so may well try to get an OOC area. Not a big deal, but it\'ll lead to some confusion for the poor newbies.
Eventually, people will sit around whining about how there\'s nothing to do and how nobody RPs, but will do absolutely nothing to change that. If you suggest it, they will start helping, then get bored in a week, and go back to whining. I\'ve seen this happen dozens of times.
Like I said, best just to relax. Letting RP=Anxiety makes things worse.
Now, advice:
RP even when you don\'t have to. It may seem odd, but if you\'re busy smacking rats around, -add dialogue-. If someone happens to hear you saying \"Blasted rodent, why don\'t you die already!\" or the like, someone nearbye may react in some way. I did this on EQ at one point, on one of those free trials, while smacking around skeletons, and a number of people were in -awe-, and started RPing all of the sudden, and were still RPing during the last week of my 30 day account. It\'s amazing what a little effort can result in.
Don\'t get snooty. Don\'t treat newbies like \'noobs\'. You had to start somewhere too. Treat them like equals, help them if you can, and hey, they may end up being better RPers than you.
Don\'t fake a start. Do or do not do, there is no try. If someone tries to start up an RP situation, make sure you KNOW you can keep your end of the bargain. If you get people\'s hopes up, then dash them, often enough, they will LOSE that hope, and they\'ll stop trying, leaving everyone bored.
Don\'t pull the \'vet\' thing. Vet\'s always end up being those people whining about the lack of RP and how much better it was in the good old days. Always consider yourself a newbie, and you\'ll find you -act- like a newbie: Full of wonder and interest and always seeking new opportunities.
Be careful of emotional attatchment. Letting your emotions in to the game can lead to a lot of problems. Just remember, it\'s a game, a -story-. Unhealthy mindsets lead to an unhealthy game.
Have an alternative. Have something you can do aside from the game in case you need to cool down or the like. If you get too hooked on the game, if something goes bad it\'ll hit you way too hard, and can lead to the fun being lost for many people.
And relax. Everyone just learn to relax. Makes it all go much smoother.