You don't have to type in immense detail to be engaged. That is my precise argument. HL2RP is an ever-changing medium, and the elitist mindset and conservatism is what drives new players away.
I have no problem with text RP and am more than capable of doing it. But Willard is not built around that idea. Very few servers are. (Plus, the best RP experiences I've ever had have been on servers with excellent automation so that the staff team could focus on the story.)
There is a very good reason that public servers with little or no scripting that promise "awesome RP freedom" die within two weeks. New players are not looking to type everything out anymore. That is not what this medium is for. You have a 3D space to RP in. Use it. You may not like it. I may not like it. But it's the truth. Public servers can no longer stick to the "old ways" and survive.
Move to a private server or another game, adapt to the change, or die.