I see this problem all the time. There are always people, usually newcomers, who struggle to "find" RP. Below is going to be a wall of text that you may or may not find helpful. I've been involved in XIV's RP community since 1.0's pre-launch without any break, and XI's RP community before then for 5-6 years without a break. While my general MMO experience may be lacking, my RP community experience is something I'd hope people would take seriously. I'm sure some may not even agree with some of what's below, but this is based on my experience. So take it or leave it, it's up to you 
Unless you're established in the community (and even if you are), RP takes an amount of effort on your part to find. It will very seldom just fall onto your lap.
Bad Advice Vs Good Advice
I see people constantly give advice to new RPers to help them "find" RP, especially on these forums. Quietly, I usually facepalm because the advice is BAD and rarely works in ACTUAL practice. Here are two examples of common bad advice people dole out to "help people find RP."
"Walk instead of run. This will indicate to others that you're likely a RPer!"
"Throw out a random emote every now and then, like humming or something to that effect. This will show people you're a RPer and possibly start something up!"
/facepalm
These don't work, folks. And when they do, it's super rare. Here's why. Those examples DO signify that you're a RPer, but that's it. They don't break the ice or give an opening for another RPer. I see someone walking around and humming? OOCly, I'm like "oh, cool. A RPer." ICly? I don't do squat. My character isn't going to jump up and start conversing with some random person just because they're walking around and humming. Sorry. Doesn't work that way. It's way too forced for most RPers and makes no sense IC. SOME may do this. Most do not.
Here's some GOOD advice that does work. I personally use these techniques myself ALL THE TIME without fail. Keep in mind some of these techniques may not necessarily work for the more rigid characters, but the majority of RPers can probably use these.
Freelance Versus Linkshell
A lot of people, especially new people at launch time, tend to choose freelance RP over linkshell RP. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But...it doesn't work for everyone. No matter how you spin it, freelancers have to work twice as hard to find RP most of the time. Unless you're an established person in the community with a myriad of resources to pull from, this isn't an easy path to take. Being a freelancer means you need to be capable of pulling from a myriad of IC and OOC resources to get a healthy amount of RP (assuming you like to RP frequently anyway). You're not likely to have such resources if you're virtually unknown like many in this thread are (no offense intended of course). So if you opt to freelance, you need to be prepared to work like hell to get the RP you want. It will not be easy, and most of the work falls on you. Attend every event you possibly can and use some of the icebreakers I mentioned above with random strangers.
If this proves to be too much work, it is highly advised to join a RP shell and build up your resources that way instead. Even this method will take some time though if you're an unknown player/character in the community, so be prepared to put forth some amount of work either way. But a linkshell is a bit easier in allowing to create resources for future RP.
MMO Hopping
Yeah...I have to touch on this a bit. Sorry.
Nowadays, the MMO market is saturated with titles all over the place. Back in the day, putting forth a big list of MMOs you played was seen as a good thing. Endgamers were like "oh snap, this person has vast experience." Rpers were like "ooooh, lots of different RP environments this person was in." Nowadays, there's a gradual change of attitude toward that. Word of advice: Stop listing tons of MMOs in your welcome posts and/or applications to linkshells. Keep it minimal. Why? Because nowadays, someone sees a huge list and thinks: "Yikes, this person is all over the place. They're going to probably jump ship to another game in a few months so I don't know if I want to invest much of MY precious time/energy into them only to potentially get screwed over later..."
That's exactly the train of thought I personally have in the RP community myself. And it seems to be a growing sentiment with a lot of RPers I talk to, like it or not. MMOs, unlike single player games, are generally supposed to be long term commitment games. So some of us long term players see the game hoppers as detrimental to the long-term success of our individual characters, thus avoiding said hoppers like the plague. Personally, my character was DESTROYED in 1.0 when everyone important to his storyline left for "greener pastures." It took me nearly a full year to recover and get to a good place again. This happens to a lot of Rpers these days. Someone who plays your sibling may jump ship, leaving a gaping hole in your family tree/storyline. A lover may drop off the face of the planet without a word, leaving a gaping hole there to fill. Or just some random person who may have got involved in a complex storyline disappears and you needed something from them to advance the current plotline. So yeah, MMO hopping is becoming more and more frowned upon by RPers (and maybe even endgamers to some extent). People aren't going to invest in something that has little chance of returning anything back. That's just the way things are becoming nowadays, like it or not.
So advice here: Only publicize a handful of MMOs you played. This goes for Enjin too. Enjin makes it SUPER easy to track a person's track record. So exercise caution on that site especially. I can literally find almost anyone on it and their past "hopping" trends. Your reputation follows you from one game to the next nowadays. Speaking for myself? If I see you have played a ton of MMOs or have a HUUUGE listing in your games list, I'm going to purposely limit my interactions with you to casual conversations only. No storylines at all. I know that sounds terrible, but you have to try to put yourselves in the shoes of the opposite party and understand how the hopping directly and negatively impacts us.
Anyone notice how the 'big name' RPers in the community have largely vanished from the RPC recently? I have. Wanna know a big reason why? Because the flood of new people makes it impossible to discern who's in it for the long haul. Thus, it's difficult for these people to invest too much in the current threads because to them, it may just be a waste of energy. The people who showed up on these forums only within the last couple months are most prone to poofing from the game in the next couple months, and the 'big name' people know this. If that's not a clear sign of how serious people take the MMO hopping issue, I don't know what is. Obviously, nobody can stop hopping. But just be aware that people are starting to look at it very differently than they used to when it comes to RP investment.
Invest in Others
RP in MMOs is not all about you or your character. People don't like always being just support characters. You need to be willing to give others your undivided attention when they want to do something with their character. Doing so will mean that they will likely return the favor when you want to do something with your character and move along your own storyline. You are not THE hero nor are you THE villain. There are many heroes and villains all around you. Give them due consideration and they will almost always return the favor. Long story short, sometimes you have to be willing to relegate your character to "support" role. In fact, that'll happen more often than not.
The easiest way to do this is to either create RP events that focus on social interactions between others or even simply just attend them and make an effort to mingle with a set number of people. It's important to not overstretch yourself though. Too many interactions can make it very difficult for your character to hone in on more in depth relationships with other characters.
Don't Give Up
People seriously give up way too easily these days the second something doesn't work out how they want it. This was so incredibly evident at the gala event. A lot of people were frustrated at the 200+ attendees and just left. While it's understandable to be overwhelmed by that, these people likely shot themselves in the foot and missed out on a lot of opportunities throughout the night after things calmed down.
On the same page of that, you can't get frustrated over your first few failed attempts to make IC friends/enemies. It happens, even with established RPers like myself. Sometimes, circumstances make it difficult to get involved in a certain scene. Or some RPers/characters just may be more secluded than others, or they may be simply overstretched as is. Or they may not even be IC at that time due to some ongoing storyline (they may be ICly in jail, or sick, or so on). So find a different target. And then find another one if that one fails. Or another if necessary. One should be persistent in their search.
In summary though, you have to be willing to put forth effort to get any results. RP will almost never just fall into your lap unless you're highly established as a character/player in the community (and even then, it still doesn't always just happen effortlessly). Like any investment, you get what you put in to the community. Those who stick things out tend to be rewarded the most for their efforts in the long run.
Unless you're established in the community (and even if you are), RP takes an amount of effort on your part to find. It will very seldom just fall onto your lap.
Bad Advice Vs Good Advice
I see people constantly give advice to new RPers to help them "find" RP, especially on these forums. Quietly, I usually facepalm because the advice is BAD and rarely works in ACTUAL practice. Here are two examples of common bad advice people dole out to "help people find RP."
"Walk instead of run. This will indicate to others that you're likely a RPer!"
"Throw out a random emote every now and then, like humming or something to that effect. This will show people you're a RPer and possibly start something up!"
/facepalm
These don't work, folks. And when they do, it's super rare. Here's why. Those examples DO signify that you're a RPer, but that's it. They don't break the ice or give an opening for another RPer. I see someone walking around and humming? OOCly, I'm like "oh, cool. A RPer." ICly? I don't do squat. My character isn't going to jump up and start conversing with some random person just because they're walking around and humming. Sorry. Doesn't work that way. It's way too forced for most RPers and makes no sense IC. SOME may do this. Most do not.
Here's some GOOD advice that does work. I personally use these techniques myself ALL THE TIME without fail. Keep in mind some of these techniques may not necessarily work for the more rigid characters, but the majority of RPers can probably use these.
- Bumping: This means exactly what it sounds like (and is often a two-step process). You literally emote having your character not paying attention and physically bump into another RPer. This will force the other person to respond to you in some way or another. Depending on the response, you may need to work a bit harder to get something continuous going though, which leads to...
**The Apology: "Ugh, sorry I spilled some of my drink on you. Let me make it up to you by buying you a drink?" Or "I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention. My mind is all over the place due to blah blah." This -usually- leads to an extended interaction with the target.
- The Commentary: "That pet is adorable! Does it have a name?" Or "Ugh, why did someone bring their pet pig into the hot springs? Is that even sanitary?" Or "That's a nice outfit. Where did you get it?" Commenting on random little things about another character that grabs your character's attention can be a great icebreaker for RP with the target in question (or even unintended targets).
- The Failed Meeting: "Are you the goldsmith from the guild by chance? No? Damn, the bastard was supposed to meet me here half a bell ago. Looks like I got stood up."
- The Tell: Exactly as it sounds, you can simply send a tell to someone you want to RP with and tell them as such. "I really like your character and your RP style seems similar to mine. Anyway we can find an excuse to get our characters together for something soon?" And then work out the circumstances from there.
Freelance Versus Linkshell
A lot of people, especially new people at launch time, tend to choose freelance RP over linkshell RP. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But...it doesn't work for everyone. No matter how you spin it, freelancers have to work twice as hard to find RP most of the time. Unless you're an established person in the community with a myriad of resources to pull from, this isn't an easy path to take. Being a freelancer means you need to be capable of pulling from a myriad of IC and OOC resources to get a healthy amount of RP (assuming you like to RP frequently anyway). You're not likely to have such resources if you're virtually unknown like many in this thread are (no offense intended of course). So if you opt to freelance, you need to be prepared to work like hell to get the RP you want. It will not be easy, and most of the work falls on you. Attend every event you possibly can and use some of the icebreakers I mentioned above with random strangers.
If this proves to be too much work, it is highly advised to join a RP shell and build up your resources that way instead. Even this method will take some time though if you're an unknown player/character in the community, so be prepared to put forth some amount of work either way. But a linkshell is a bit easier in allowing to create resources for future RP.
MMO Hopping
Yeah...I have to touch on this a bit. Sorry.
Nowadays, the MMO market is saturated with titles all over the place. Back in the day, putting forth a big list of MMOs you played was seen as a good thing. Endgamers were like "oh snap, this person has vast experience." Rpers were like "ooooh, lots of different RP environments this person was in." Nowadays, there's a gradual change of attitude toward that. Word of advice: Stop listing tons of MMOs in your welcome posts and/or applications to linkshells. Keep it minimal. Why? Because nowadays, someone sees a huge list and thinks: "Yikes, this person is all over the place. They're going to probably jump ship to another game in a few months so I don't know if I want to invest much of MY precious time/energy into them only to potentially get screwed over later..."
That's exactly the train of thought I personally have in the RP community myself. And it seems to be a growing sentiment with a lot of RPers I talk to, like it or not. MMOs, unlike single player games, are generally supposed to be long term commitment games. So some of us long term players see the game hoppers as detrimental to the long-term success of our individual characters, thus avoiding said hoppers like the plague. Personally, my character was DESTROYED in 1.0 when everyone important to his storyline left for "greener pastures." It took me nearly a full year to recover and get to a good place again. This happens to a lot of Rpers these days. Someone who plays your sibling may jump ship, leaving a gaping hole in your family tree/storyline. A lover may drop off the face of the planet without a word, leaving a gaping hole there to fill. Or just some random person who may have got involved in a complex storyline disappears and you needed something from them to advance the current plotline. So yeah, MMO hopping is becoming more and more frowned upon by RPers (and maybe even endgamers to some extent). People aren't going to invest in something that has little chance of returning anything back. That's just the way things are becoming nowadays, like it or not.
So advice here: Only publicize a handful of MMOs you played. This goes for Enjin too. Enjin makes it SUPER easy to track a person's track record. So exercise caution on that site especially. I can literally find almost anyone on it and their past "hopping" trends. Your reputation follows you from one game to the next nowadays
. Speaking for myself? If I see you have played a ton of MMOs or have a HUUUGE listing in your games list, I'm going to purposely limit my interactions with you to casual conversations only. No storylines at all. I know that sounds terrible, but you have to try to put yourselves in the shoes of the opposite party and understand how the hopping directly and negatively impacts us. Anyone notice how the 'big name' RPers in the community have largely vanished from the RPC recently? I have. Wanna know a big reason why? Because the flood of new people makes it impossible to discern who's in it for the long haul. Thus, it's difficult for these people to invest too much in the current threads because to them, it may just be a waste of energy. The people who showed up on these forums only within the last couple months are most prone to poofing from the game in the next couple months, and the 'big name' people know this. If that's not a clear sign of how serious people take the MMO hopping issue, I don't know what is. Obviously, nobody can stop hopping. But just be aware that people are starting to look at it very differently than they used to when it comes to RP investment.
Invest in Others
RP in MMOs is not all about you or your character. People don't like always being just support characters. You need to be willing to give others your undivided attention when they want to do something with their character. Doing so will mean that they will likely return the favor when you want to do something with your character and move along your own storyline. You are not THE hero nor are you THE villain. There are many heroes and villains all around you. Give them due consideration and they will almost always return the favor. Long story short, sometimes you have to be willing to relegate your character to "support" role. In fact, that'll happen more often than not.
The easiest way to do this is to either create RP events that focus on social interactions between others or even simply just attend them and make an effort to mingle with a set number of people. It's important to not overstretch yourself though. Too many interactions can make it very difficult for your character to hone in on more in depth relationships with other characters.
Don't Give Up
People seriously give up way too easily these days the second something doesn't work out how they want it. This was so incredibly evident at the gala event. A lot of people were frustrated at the 200+ attendees and just left. While it's understandable to be overwhelmed by that, these people likely shot themselves in the foot and missed out on a lot of opportunities throughout the night after things calmed down.
On the same page of that, you can't get frustrated over your first few failed attempts to make IC friends/enemies. It happens, even with established RPers like myself. Sometimes, circumstances make it difficult to get involved in a certain scene. Or some RPers/characters just may be more secluded than others, or they may be simply overstretched as is. Or they may not even be IC at that time due to some ongoing storyline (they may be ICly in jail, or sick, or so on). So find a different target. And then find another one if that one fails. Or another if necessary. One should be persistent in their search.
In summary though, you have to be willing to put forth effort to get any results. RP will almost never just fall into your lap unless you're highly established as a character/player in the community (and even then, it still doesn't always just happen effortlessly). Like any investment, you get what you put in to the community. Those who stick things out tend to be rewarded the most for their efforts in the long run.
