Roleplay on CM existed because of a specific factor: rivalry between metagroups.
Be it loose, IC ones that formed spontaneously or more rigid, OOC groups, the RP on the server was driven by people who fucked around in their metagroup, then tried to meme around with another. Old Delta vs old Charlie for example. Or COs and MPs vs everyone. There's plenty of players that used to play MP for this reason, Arbs, Nanu, Gabo, Dee. Predators too, though they are a special case. And before you call me out, saying that in the past people simply griefed other players for their own enjoyment, have you ever played an actual RP server? Take bay for example. Baycode is absolutely STARVED in terms of gameplay elements, everything that happens revolves around antags. Around CONFLICT. Without conflict, Bay is a chatroom, and without conflict, CM is a TDM.
But conflict is gone now. CO rules are rigid and basically don't allow any negative interactions, MPs are cucked in general, metagroups died out. Preds are a literal joke, 99999999 stupid rules, nerfed equipment, chased around by specific players that fish for a kill or a player report (fuck preds tho). Everything that used to drive conflict on the server was very slowly driven out, forbidden or coded out. And this isn't a recent thing, it's been happening since 2018.
To put it bluntly: this isn't a good RP setting. A good RP environment. It just isn't. You can only be a cool tough 80s action hero so many times. Xeno RP is just downright dreadful. Devs have recently announced that they will be adding on-ship antags, which is an interesting step in the right direction, but having glanced at their guidelines and knowing the current staff climate, it will not go well. You'll get another hugbox, another extremely tightly controlled environment where only staff-mandated behaviours and interactions are allowed. It will be cancer for players to figure out how to avoid punishment, it will be cancer for staff to enforce, it will be filled with hidden rules, out of touch rulings based on personal opinion rather than an objectively best choice and an unhappy, confused playerbase.
If you want RP, bring conflict back. If not just let people do whatever.