BITN does have a different groove, at least that I've seen. Maybe it's the elimination of supernatural splat pissing contests, or cross sphere dangerousness where you never know when people are going to like that or think it's an excuse to PK or what. I've not spent a lot of time in the OOC room so I don't know how "bad" it is, but generally when I've said somthng on pub channel (!!!!) I normally get at least 1 nibble that's not from someone who knows me! I've also seen a bigger mix of grim and humor AND grim humor than I've seen in a long time, and that makes me very very happy.
I love srs bsns stories, but my main play for the last two almost three years has been /vampire/. So--it's nice to play things that can shift over into something pretty funny (to me, I don't know if other players appreciate my version of funny) AND serious, as the situation/adrenaline merits.