Abundance of OOC?

[TheEnd430]

Hello. I'm a new player to Discovery, though I've been part of some other Freelancer communities way back. I've also been roleplaying for years now and actively participate in RP in other games. I recently had an urge to try Freelancer again and after hearing good things about Discovery from friends I've made in other communities, I decided to give it a shot. However, there seems to be just as many people who are not RPers as there are RPers. Maybe I'm picking up on it wrong or just happen to be getting on at bad times, but most of the talk I see in system chat appears to be OOC (or has a complete lack of grammar). I've seen a few trade convoys and Liberty Navy players speak IC, but not many other than that.

So, with that in mind I have a couple questions. First, is this common or have I just been unlucky? Second, how do you handle situations such as pirates if they don't RP? I've not yet had it happen, but if a pirate is attempting to extort me while speaking solely out of character, am I obligated to listen? I ask this because I've seen red named players talking OOC in system chat.

Was just curious and was wondering if people could shed some light on this for me. Also, if this happens to be in the wrong section or something I apologize. A moderator can feel free to move it.