Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
When we invoke 'realism,' that's exactly what we're doing (and, yes, that one word can neatly invalidate everything associated with it if not used very carefully, indeed), we're bringing in RL standards. In this specific case, the idea that rolling is more 'realistic,' it's even in the exact sense that Hussar brought up - the sense of what the character controls mapping closely to what the player controls. The character can't choose his parents, for instance, so the player shouldn't be able to just take a background like Noble. You're either born into a noble family or not - usually not - so roll on this table....
No you're not. Real life is one extreme and pure chaos in another dimension with no realism whatsoever is at the other end. Everything in-between is a grade of realism. People talk about things being more realistic than other things all the time without saying it mirrors real life. Attempting to force realism to only mean real life is to engage in a False Dichotomy.