I know what you mean since I roleplayed like that before I quit :/ Very descriptive 5+ paragraphs and whatnot, however I think this event was supposed to be more fun than actual, like...really serious roleplaying. Everyone here was still roleplaying, whether we typed out like we were writing a novel or not. Roleplaying is really just taking on the role of a character, and that's what everyone did. Believe it or not, there are different styles of roleplaying and most of the people here used the "script" style if I remember what it's called correctly. Or just forum style. I think everyone did very well anyway. They played their roles very nicely. Perhaps with the plot, then it would be easier to write more descriptive posts, as the characters would have more on their minds and possibly be doing more. For this one, I felt it was easier to use script/forum style since there wasn't much going on.
tl;dr: everyone was "really" roleplaying, just using a different style than you're used to :3
I completely agree with you. It's still roleplay, as long as you pretend to be something you aren't, it is roleplaying. However, it's still like a fun messing around style. I wouldn't consider it normal roleplaying or anything. Not even the basics of RPing, but simply for enjoyment, as I think of real RPing as being very descriptive.
But yeah, without a plot, it's hard, and I don't think a lot of people here and into the more common way of forum RP.