I am really tired at the moment, so forgive me if this post is riddled with grammatical/spelling errors.

I have been an avid roleplayer. When I say roleplayer, I mean the real definition of what roleplaying is: playing the role of a persona. This type of gaming doesn't require any gameplay mechanics at all, and is purely based on a group of people (Or even one person if that's your thing) playing a persona that isn't them in a certain setting. This is translated most commonly into what is used in Dungeons & Dragons, where there are solid rules applied to nearly all applicable actions that the character would want to take, so that the game is fair.

Introduction out of the way, I'd like to address the problem of people misinterpreting what roleplaying is.
If you are playing a role that is not you, then you are roleplaying.
That's all there is to it. Now, where the real problem lies is in people's ability to convey this role as it would be conveyed if it were real.
In the mighty world of Azeroth, a battle worn Blood Elf stands above his fallen brethren, fatigued after fighting for hours on end, tooth and nail with some of the fiercest beasts he's ever seen in his life. But even after all of this, he raises his head to the sky above, and calls out: "wts [Heroes' Scourgeborne Plate] 8k pm me!!!!"

See where I'm going with this? That is 90% of roleplaying that goes on in roleplaying games, and the spotlight is entirely focused on gameplay mechanics and not on character development and interaction.
When I play a roleplaying game, I do it to build an interesting persona and socialise/interact with other interesting personae in a persistant settings where our main goal is not to amass wealth or to obtain the best gear, but to reach the enventual goals of our persona, whether that be opening a bakery or avenging the death of their beloved parents.

I hope this sheds some light on the actual ideas behind what is "good" roleplaying and what is just playing an RPG.

Thanks for reading.