In my opinion, there's no such thing as an RPE MUD. Either it's a roleplaying MUD or it's not. The thing that makes a roleplaying environment an acceptable place to really RP and not just horse around and call yourself an orc is the consistancy of the experience. In an RPE, anyone's free to disrupt that whenever they want and hide behind the shield of it being RPE. Not only that, but like the topic creator says, most RPEs tend to be H&S games with storylines. But, again, simply using a character as an avatar isn't roleplaying.
Since roleplaying hinges on that consistant environment that lets the character be a character and not just another NPC programmed to walk around and be able to 'kill monster,' it's very easy to shatter the illusion with even a slight mention of OOC material. That's why the term RPE is just wishful thinking at best and simple delusion at worst.
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