I don't think there's anything wrong with RP. It exists on all servers, and to some extent a lot of people do it naturally when creating a character. People make fun of hardcore RPers because people make fun of anyone different to them; they speak in character or make fanart of their characters, therefore they must be bad at mechanics or something. The two are completely unrelated. Light teasing is fine but some of the comments slamming people for daring to have fun make me cringe, and I'm not even on an 'RP' server myself.

I also don't think there's anything wrong with ERP though people should keep it to their prearranged groups and not prance through the streets of Ul'dah soliciting random strangers, a stereotype which has sadly fed into the bad reputation Balmung has attracted, largely unfairly. A few crazy people with no boundaries spoil things for those who play just to have fun.