Characteristics for Player Characters

The purpose of D&D is to enable persons to transfer themselves through time and space, so they can personally experience the fantasy of living in an alternate universe.  By directly experiencing the game through their characters — who need no personality except that of the players — participants can viscerally experience the dangers, excitement and fright inherent in D&D's setting ... without the inconvenience of being injured or killed.

Some will shy from this direct, no-emotional-holds-barred, hands-on exposure to a world challenging their intellect and resolve.  They will seek to protect their fragile egos by fabricating poorly-imagined caricature figures — inserting false personas between themselves and the upfront game.  These mawkish automatons with have a smattering of traits and hastily constructed habits, but nothing like the raw individuality of a Real Person.  But what the robots will have is the ability to protect the players from taking responsibility for their actions, since each player-cartoon characters can easily be blamed for failing in a hundred ways, no matter what happens.  For some, the need to hold game-play at arm's length is a tacit reminder — that when it comes to pursuing guts and glory, some are heroes, while others are mere armchair supervisors who can't invest.

Naturally, it's not the DM's function to tell players how to play.  Yet it will be noticed, particularly in long campaigns, where years pass and the players show increasingly greater skill, which players can truly play.  Some will never tire of adventure ... and some will punk out, unable to stay the course. 

The more passionate we are about living, the greater commitment we make to real things.  This will always be seen by those paying attention.