Let me throw in my two cents here, because I think the confusion may be nomenclatural. 
There's a few different uses for the word "scene" that you might find among RPers. Let me walk through them:
So, "scene" really has three different meanings depending on context. RPers usually mean the first, sometimes mean the second, and rarely mean the third.
In general, though, most RPers are playing, as you say, "living characters" that go through the world and act and react as appropriate. It's like massive improvisational theatre. The only form of scripting that's common is coming up with a brief setup for why one or more characters might interact if it's not obvious how that'd happen, and that's basically at the same level as the setup in improv. Fully scripted RP is rare, usually restricted to private events and storylines (or, at least, it should be), and typically only found in an LS/FC setting.
Does that help?
EDIT: Oh, there's one more possible meaning, too:
There's a few different uses for the word "scene" that you might find among RPers. Let me walk through them:
- An interaction between characters with a beginning and an end: This is, I think, what most people mean when they refer to a "scene." It's just a time demarcation for when you RP with one or more people. When I say, "I had a scene with X, Y, and Z last night," I mean that I RPed with those people last night, and then we went our separate ways. It doesn't say anything about the nature of the RP. The term comes from tabletop RPGs that mark abstract time that way.
- A scheduled event: A scene can also mean a scheduled event. For instance, I might say, "Hey, our characters look like they might get along, do you want to do a scene later where they can meet?" I'm basically just scheduling RP, then, and maybe setting up how it'll happen. For instance, I might say, "For this scene, let's have our characters have both been sent to this dungeon to investigate it, and we were told to look for other people here." A scene in this sense still isn't really scripting anything; it's just providing a schedule and a basic setup. In this fashion, the term derives from improvisational acting.
- A scripted event: This is probably actually the rarest use of the term. Here, the parties involved have scripted the flow and results of the RP, and the scene (in the first sense) is likely closed to others. Value judgments on this aside, this is actually pretty uncommon.
So, "scene" really has three different meanings depending on context.
RPers usually mean the first, sometimes mean the second, and rarely mean the third.In general, though, most RPers are playing, as you say, "living characters" that go through the world and act and react as appropriate. It's like massive improvisational theatre. The only form of scripting that's common is coming up with a brief setup for why one or more characters might interact if it's not obvious how that'd happen, and that's basically at the same level as the setup in improv. Fully scripted RP is rare, usually restricted to private events and storylines (or, at least, it should be), and typically only found in an LS/FC setting.
Does that help?
EDIT: Oh, there's one more possible meaning, too:
- The situation in which a scene (as described above) happens: This is the meaning when people refer to "setting the scene." It's just the circumstances and situation in which a "scene" (as described above) happens. So, someone might say, "Okay, we're meeting for RP, set the scene," and that's a request to setup where the characters are and what they're doing before the RP starts.
The Freelance Wizard
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
