I personally understand what the OP means. I for one was brought up on a lot of video games where ability scores were not used, or if they were they did not effect how the characters played in cutscenes and dialogue.
In most games, you had six "stats"
Attack, Defense, Magic, Resistance, Speed, HP
You can easily switch those out for their ability score equivalents, but the thing about that is that these, being more abstract, can account for factors to a character's combat capability that do not necessarily directly effect their non-combat capabilities.
It means that you don't have to be smart to be a spellcaster, though you probably are, and you don't have to be a big muscle-guy to be a warrior, though you probably are. What systems like this allow one to do is split the mechanics of the character away from the character's personality.
Simultaneously, I don't really think that's the way D&D should go. I kind of like an earlier poster's idea that point buy points should be give upon level up, so as to increase more lower abilities faster, and to increase higher abilities only with more effort.