Arilyn
Hero
In my experience groups who take death off the table are more than happy to put their characters through emotional hell and have no problem at all accepting other kinds of loss.Second, we don't know what the players mean by not wanting character death until we ask them. I've met many who legitimately don't want to lose, and death is seen as the most obvious expression of that idea. Just because someone wants death off the table doesn't mean they're ok with other forms of failure. Sometimes players just want the DM to run them through a power fantasy.
Is the power fantasy gamer who never wants there to be any risk of any kind of loss a player type that actually exists? If they do, do they stay engaged in the hobby? I keep hearing these stories and am wondering how common this actually is?