I adore romance in roleplays but I cannot stand to see it be decided out of character. I like seeing the chemistry between characters play out over time, relationships developed in line with plot relevancy over dozens upon dozens of posts- rather than decided right from the get go after the few first encounters. It makes the relationship so much more worth it when the time and effort has been put into it.
I think it's definitely something that can be both the center of the entire purpose of the roleplay, and also the spice to an otherwise non-romantic storyline, but which form it takes depends on how things play out in-character. But deciding ships out of character or too early is basically a recipe for disaster, and it can be extremely suffocating in what you and your character are capable of doing afterwards. Plus it's important that not only do the characters mesh, but the creators have to mesh too- so it's definitely not something easily achieved. But then again, love never is, if reality is any indication haha! (foreveralone.jpeg)
edit: That said, I hate white picket fence romances. Snoozefest.