For most MMO's it is, but i dont know about this game. With wow, people just played the game and interacted with eachother. I feel like, with this game, people sort of become their characters. The archtypes of jedi and sith have existed for so long, that it's hard not to get caught up in it. even on a non-RP server.
As far as the republic goes, everyone seems to be genuinly nice. And genuinly helpful. But it seems like girl toons are just willing to go that extra distance.