well, i will just speak in my own name.
I play
uo since many years (7 i think).
I've often stopped for some time, trying new mmorpgs as they were coming.
First point : because of the nature itself of
uo mechanisms compared to other mmo"rpg"s, i can tell you that it's almost impossible to roleplay in another game. Why ? simply because the other games have been created only to fight monsters in group, and nothing (absolutely nothing) else. I don't speak only about
wow, they are all the same (and i've tried a lot).
In the other games, you are in 3d, not isometric, which means that you don't have a global view of the situation like in
UO.
Then the chat appears in a window, and you have to press a key before to speak (like enter). In
UO, you just have to type, it's very instinctive, and the speach appears above each character, in the choosen color. Very simple and convenient.
In the other games, you can't put things on the floor. That limits the possibilities of roleplaying. And even if you could, there would be nothing to put on the floor because the only items are weapons, armors, potions, food in the best case. Nothing else.
Then, the possibilities to custom your appearance are very limited, as people have to choose between at the best ten classes, and the equipment in each class look the same. no way to choose the color...
Bref, these games have an extremly poor content compared to
UO, even if they can make illusion because of the billions of polygones explosion effects bloom effect blablabla etc...
For all these reasons (plus a lot more) Ultima is not only the best game to roleplay in, but it's sadly the only one. The roleplayers aren't interesting the producers of mmo (rpg has even officially disappeard) anymore.
So, what about
UO now ? Well, for my part, i'm online every evenings (europe time) on the serevr europe, and with the community of roleplayers (Core being an important part, but not the only part, a lot of interesting things happen and are possible out of Core) i'm never alone. And i don't even spend my time to visit the other towns. So Yes
UO is active, roleplayers are active, at least on europe server.
Now, depend of what you seek. And for that, exploring the forums is a way indeed to choose where to start, but the best would be to explore in game. Visit taverns, visit events (like this week the 9th anniversary of the Yew militia for example). Speak to people in rp areas.
About buying
UO, you can download it for free (Kingdom reborn for the 3d version, or even 8th anniversary i believe, for the 2d version, not sure though). For a try it's perfect. Then later you'll be able to buy the next version with the gargoyle thingy if you like it (dunno when it'll come but shouldn't be too long).
I hope my answer helped a bit, and welcome in the rp community of Europa
