Yog Sothoth said
A List!
A Reply!
I'm going to go out of limb here and say most of the RPs you're used to are in the Free section, which certainly isn't a problem or anything, but something to keep in mind is that most of Free is usually new roleplayers or younger members of the forum, so they're going to start falling into tropes and cliches a lot more frequently than someone who's been doing it for a few years (with the intention of self improvement, that is. Some people are just happy sticking with whatever level they start with). People are usually going to stick with what they know, and since Free doesn't really require more than a simple idea to get going, you're not going to see a complex or nuisanced plot or characters given the nature of the quick and small posts.
Going into your points,
1. Easiest way around this is to make or join a game that has a rule about having no anime face claims, which is something I do in each of my games. You're just going to have to accept that a lot of people got into roleplaying because of anime and it's what they like and what their interests are. It's not for everyone, certainly; it just means you're going to have to look a bit harder for games to join or start enforcing some personal game standards.
2. Big reason for this is the popular games typically are around themes for things that are popular and trendy (a current TV show, video game, movie, whatever) or are generic themes that are popular and easy to do (supernatural RPs, school RPs, et cetera). There's no real way of telling if a game is going to last or not unless you know the GM has a history of being unreliable, but the best way you can take an educated guess at what game is going to run for a while is to see how much effort is put into making the OOC. If the GM appears to really care and is trying, then it will probably go on a while. If a GM drops or and the other players still want to keep going, absolutely nothing is stopping you from making your own game with the same characters and setting to continue. Myself and 5 other players kept a game going for about 4 months with no GM because we had that much chemistry going. The only reason a game dies is if you let it die, more or less.
Going back to the theme of a game, keep in mind what's popular to you might not be popular to other people or even "in style". Just because you want to play a Lovecraftian-themed horror RP where your town is being consumed by an unspeakable monstrosity that causes you to lose your mind if you witness it doesn't mean people are going to want to do it either, especially when they can play Supernatural Self-Insert High Version 63. It doesn't mean you have to cater to other people's interests, but you may need to accept that the subforum you usually frequent isn't receptive to those kinds of games, you may wish to try somewhere else or invite players you know you can rely on.
3. A combination of previous points, it's what people are comfortable with and what they know. Instead of Spider-Man, they grew up watching Dragon Ball or something so their aesthetic preferences are going to be screaming, over-the-top action and it may not align with your tastes. You can't get mad at people for liking a certain genre; all you can really do is look for games with a 'No Anime' standard or make one yourself, or maybe look in another section.
4. Goes back to the whole people are starting off roleplaying in Free and sometimes Casual point I brought up earlier. People don't know how to make original or unique characters yet so they stick with themes and traits they know. Trust me, when I first started roleplaying, I drew a lot of influence for my character from Turok and over-the-top fighting from Dragon Ball Z. Hell, my character's name was my first name reversed. Was it the most original or creative character? No, but it got me into roleplaying and I've grown a looot since then. It's just entirely possible that you're hitting an age where you're really starting to notice a maturity gap between you and your peers and you might be looking for something with a bit more nuisance and depth. You're probably just noticing that a lot of people make characters that are cool or attractive or badass, and a lot of girls probably emulate their favorite characters, which probably all fall under similar tropes. Guys do the exact same things, but they tend to have a bit more variety to draw from, given how popular media seems to be predominantly male-character oriented. Case in point, make a list of twenty video games an TV shows for men and another for women and time yourself to see how long it takes you to fill the list out for each. Bonus round, do it again, except don't use any characters that are Princesses.
5. Exactly the point I was making the last time, only you're noticing guys doing it because their influence is different than the girls. It's exactly the same thing, both genders of players are drawing from arch types and inspirations, although the source material may differ. The problem is, the anti-hero is such a popular character arch type and is usually portrayed as an incredibly powerful individual that it's popular (plus, look at how any shows/ movies/ games protagonists are characters who go against the system and are proven right in the end by virtue of success. It's endemic.), and people think that by having a dark, brooding character makes them mysterious and alluring instead of somebody who isn't really participating in group dynamics and therefore uninteresting because if every time a character tries to talk to this character they're met with unwarranted hostility or terseness, they're not going to bother talking to them. They're going to talk to literally everyone else. Another problem is when EVERYONE makes the brooding asshole that NOBODY wants to talk and is expecting others to approach them. We get it, everyone wants to be Wolverine and not Cyclops, but Wolverine works because he's distinct from everyone else and usually NOT the main character. If your entire RP consists of people trying to outbadass each other unironically, it's going to turn out really poorly.
6. Or said people are trying to get their points across in one fell swoop. Sure, brevity is important, but it's less about stroking your ego as it is airing your concerns. Could be they're ranting, and usually length is a good indicator of somebody getting heated, at which point it's a good practice to keep note of who's the hot heads and seeing who's being rational. Best not to get involved unless it's really important. Ultimately, GM's word is law. All players need to respect that.
7. The guild is still getting a lot of new features; it was literally built from scratch and Mahz has obligations elsewhere. Be patient.
