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Crafting for currency, fighting monsters to gain experience, going through a quest for a powerful item, all of these are achievements and don't automatically imply roleplaying. That's what makes the difference between environments where roleplaying is encouraged and where roleplaying is just a static factor. When all actions are expected to have elements of a character's personality, a unique flavor that's all theirs, when that sort of behavior's just expected, I'd call it RPI. When it can be said to just add to the experience, but not be required, I'd call it RPE.
The thing is, though, it all comes back to the issue of consistancy. If your character passionately hacks his way through a cluster of small fuzzy mammals one moment and then, under similar circumstances, just passively kills them to gain EXP, there's not that consistant environment. What would cause your character to act differently?
In RPI MUDs, there's also the element of entertaining others and adding to the gameworld with your roleplaying, rather than just using it as another way of achieving things you could do alone. That even if nobody gets a gidget out of the experience, it can still be worth it, rather than have everybody clammor for EXP at the end of an event.
But these are my personal feelings on the issue. I've played both types of games, and it should be obvious which sort I prefer, though I don't look down on MUDs where roleplaying isn't as emphasized. I just think they happen to resemble more often than not.
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