And it's funny you mention chat-style RP because I do it there as well. It helps in the RP environment to set the scene and convey things that, like you said, have a limited amount of space to do it in.
I've even been known to abuse the ellipses as lead in to 'revelations' in my fics.
I think I've only used the "..." once and that was in a humor fic as well.