I think most hobbies that involve this much time spent quietly plugging along at something for a few hours a day usually result in sweaters or blankets or other things that are a lot more tangible show-offable than an intricate escapist fantasy you built co-operatively with some friends.

But I've finished more PSLs and threads than I have afghans, so I'm actually LESS of a flake here than I am as a knitter.

I think as long as I'm getting that nice little dopamine zing from some good threads and good company, I'm satisfied enough with RP to keep at it.
But then, I'm also one of the lazier RPers out there as far as the aesthetics go. I have info entries and all that, but I've never had a custom journal layout and rarely go over fifty or so icons for most of my characters, so most of the time I invest is is into tagging.

It also helps that I enjoy the process of tagging out, responses or not. Sometimes I'm just pleased with a tag I think was clever, even if I found the wrong player for it.