I totally sympathize with you about roleplaying, although my experience is facetime rather than online. It's a skill and a talent, a form of acting/storytelling. Some people are brilliant, many can be adequate, but a lot of people aren't and/or don't care.

To me, roleplaying is a learning opportunity where I can learn things I can't get anywhere else. That makes me very devoted to a game when I'm playing or mastering one. Unfortunately it's hard to find other people who are serious about it; most just think of it as another game. That gets very frustrating. A good game depends on people having the same or at least compatible goals.