The biggest devil's advocate defense against this idea is in the genres of adventure and action, or wherever conflict is inevitable, is if you don't show and outline your character's abilities along with their strengths and weaknesses. You'll be able to "cheat the system" as it were, making stuff up as you go will be seen in a negative light and you may even create situations where your character appears to be overpowered. [i]And no ones wants that to happen in a story.[/i]

I could go more in-depth, but really I don't actually have a stronger case since I've basically said this somewhere on the forum already. (Or at least similar in fashion.) And there is cases that even aesthetics can matter in specific scenarios, the height and weight of a character or even what they're wearing could become plot relevant to a smart and thoughtful enough GM. For instance, your characters are lost and need some creature to show you directions. But the creature only takes interest in shiny things, and it just so happens somebody has a shiny watch in their inventory and can use that to persuade directions out of the creature. (Stuff like that makes players feel more involved when you take these things into consideration. It actually shows you at least [b]read[/b] the sheets and aren't just using them to dismiss people you dislike under the technical excuse of the sheet.)

Actually, you don't particularly go into one of the things I consider to be the biggest flaws in CS's in terms of good storytelling. Is because they often remain static and frozen in time before an RP even begins, when good characters by definition go into their own arcs where they're expected to change. Yes, you can tirelessly keep editing your CS to keep track of such things. But so rarely is it even worth doing, since they're often used as a mere reminder of the character you're playing. (Only useful when you're in many RP's.) And many more people don't even follow their sheet in personality or otherwise, which does make you wonder how little they considered when it came to making it.

[i]I was suppose to be playing devil's advocate wasn't I? Hmm...[/i]

Do you think the vast majority of players can write creatively and in enough detail to make their own character's perspective obvious and telling? CS's, when not used as a weapon by the GM, are effectively cheat sheets for the player. Would getting rid of character sheets rob people of having a direct link to everything they want to have for their character? And like the mentioned previously, won't it allow filthy cheaters and overpowered characters to ruin all the fun?