There have been large-scale events that would have been contenders for a server-canon like experience which did receive a lot of negative feedback on the RPC. For the most part, people tend to work within SE's canon and aren't generally going to be RPing as like, named characters in the Main Scenerio Quests. (Although people do do this in their own groups! So if that is your thing, you should be able to find that too!)
Oyuu's answered everything to the extent I don't have much else to add. While FFXIV doesn't have any useful RP addons, we do have status icons, and we got a Roleplayer status icon you can use to denote being an RPer or as an IC/OOC switch. FFXIV RP isn't exactly a homogenous single community as much as it's more like a bunch of clusters with a good amount of overlap and a gradient of opinions. There's typically something for everyone although finding it can take a little while as even hub sites like the RPC aren't the end-all for everyone.
In terms of getting character info across, what I've seen a lot of people do is make use of a RPC wiki and include a current events/thoughts section. Or if they're planning on setting up some RP with people, they might make an IC thread or a Bullentin Board post to set up a scene to continue in game later.
Oyuu's answered everything to the extent I don't have much else to add. While FFXIV doesn't have any useful RP addons, we do have status icons, and we got a Roleplayer status icon you can use to denote being an RPer or as an IC/OOC switch. FFXIV RP isn't exactly a homogenous single community as much as it's more like a bunch of clusters with a good amount of overlap and a gradient of opinions. There's typically something for everyone although finding it can take a little while as even hub sites like the RPC aren't the end-all for everyone.
In terms of getting character info across, what I've seen a lot of people do is make use of a RPC wiki and include a current events/thoughts section. Or if they're planning on setting up some RP with people, they might make an IC thread or a Bullentin Board post to set up a scene to continue in game later.