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When we roleplay in MUDs we don't roleplay souffle-cooks, we roleplay mages, thiefs, warriors, merchants, paladins and forest-loving wood-elves or whatever (I only play high fantasy MUDs :-)
Much (but not all) of the roleplaying concerns the conflicts and loyalties between the different character types, both PC and NPC, not the domestinc situations involved in cooking suffle.
MUDs are not real-life simulators.
Now, when a dark-elf and a high elf meet they will be in natural conflict (as an example, the game's setting dictates this of course), in this is roleplaying - they don't need to kill each other, or even fight; in a city it probably should be criminal, but they probably would not be immediate friends either - and unless they have the possibility to kill each other there can be no real tension, hence roleplay will suffer amost totally ("begone you filty creep", "or what, you pig-coloured heap of garbage", "uh, well, nothing actually").
But if killing has no consequence then the stronger character might jump on the weaker just for the hell of it, and again roleplay is lost. Therefore a legal system/reputation system or something of this nature must exist.
Also, no differentiation should be done between PCs and NPCs - why should killing one dark-elf be IC and killing another be OC? It distracts from the immersion you need for roleplaying - jumping in and out of character all the time is like trying to watch a movie while talking on the phone.
When you enter a MUD you should enter your role and you should play that role until you leave. Ideally.
-Nobody
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