I think present tense only really works in free-rp's. One you start putting paragraphs together, it sticks out awkwardly. That's literary tradition really, since books and stories aren't usually written in present tense. Goes back to the days when novels were treated like fictional accounts being repeated to the reader. If instead of coming into RPing through literary tradition you come through via gaming tradition where things are usually present tense, that's going to be what you find normal