[Will]

Nothing turns me off faster than mandatory tutorials.

What is a "scripted" event?

To each his own. I enjoy building characters, gaining skills and levels, amassing gear and wealth, but it's tons of fun when there's more to it than just better numbers and more stuff. Playing the role of a thief, warrior, mage or whatever, becoming involved in stories where the decisions I make help determine the course of the world's history can be thrilling. There can be much more to character building beyond just the next level.

Are there folks who don't get into that? Sure. But a lot of us do.

Can you define "proper role-play?" I think this is some of the problem. The snobbery that has crept into the RP side of mudding, that tells players how they must play their roles and ridicules them when they don't meet expectations is laughable. I don't think it's too much to ask people to check real-world chatter at the door. But forcing folks to stick to a pre-written character background or insisting that they RP by paragraph is too much for me. In my view, a good game allows players to do their own thing, as long as they aren't ruining anyone else's fun.

"Properly" immersed. Interesting.

It sounds like to me that you've had some bad experiences with games that made ridiculous demands. RP can take some effort, but so can anything else worthwhile. It should never, however, be a chore. As I said, RP isn't for everyone. Maybe it's just not for you. I also think that there are WAY more reasons that "the biggest games on the net" succeed beyond the fact that they don't demand role-play.

Not for everyone.

People contradict themselves lots. It happens. I would say, however, that if you consistently worry about what you are about to say in-game, maybe your character doesn't have a set of ideals, beliefs, or anything else on which its opinions, decisions and reactions are based. And if you're trying to role-play, that could be a definite drawback.