I've always felt that the primary goal of role playing was to become your character. This can be a difficult goal especially if you have chosen a char...
I started playing campaigns so I put staying alive at a high priority. Nothing wrong with that. But at North Texas playing Discos and Dragons I played a low level hobbit with adventure fever in over his head. I always charged in. I even went straight for a Giants ankles with my ax. I died, of course. But it was fun.