BillSeurer
Eternal Supreme Dictator
@Guenthar - Don't forget that a lot of D&D modules (and tournaments) back in the early days used pre-generated characters, too. And ditto for "pick-up" games. I wouldn't say it was equally popular as rolling your own (how could it be?), but it was a pretty common practice with the grandfather of all RPGs. I consider it a pretty valid practice in any RPG. (Although that being said, Frayed Knights notwithstanding, I do prefer the games that let you roll your own).
For a tournament or convention game you pretty much HAVE to provide characters. Otherwise it becomes a game of who can abuse the rules the worst.
Modules sometimes provide characters but how could they force anyone to use them?
And pick up games were and are all over the place.