I’ve found that they prefer not losing, or even risking, their characters over completing their goals. If they can complete a goal with zero risk, they will. If they have to risk anything, they’d rather sit at home and do nothing.
Absolutely. Which is almost the opposite of what I want. To most 5E players, in my experience, their characters are more precious than gold. They refuse to risk them. To me characters are fictional constructs that can be moved, dropped, traded away, driven like it’s stolen, and discarded with ease. To me “this is challenging” means “don’t be too attached to your characters.” When I spotted that was a miscommunication I made that clear to the players. That did not go over well. One player literally gasped and a few quit.
Yeah, I've just never had players like this.
I mean, I've had risk averse players, and players playing risk averse characters.
But to just completely shut down ANY risk whatever? Why are you playing D&D then? It just seems totally alien to me!