Lots of fictional characters – maybe most of them – are only fun to read about, not to hang out with. I mean, would you really want to be acquainted with Batman? Even apart from the fact that that would involve living on DC-Earth (yearly alien invasions! daily volcanic eruptions! and every ten years, history gets rewritten!) and in Gotham City (2005 murder rate: 1 in 10), you’d be hanging with a man who was apparently potty-trained at gunpoint. Likewise Lazarus Long is a bit of a jerk (and would probably have slept with your wife), and Mal Reynolds, though loyal, is constantly getting his friends killed.
But some characters are different. Some are worth knowing. For example, if I lived in his world, I wouldn’t mind being friends with Earl Hickey – post-list, of course. Not overly serious. Sense of humor coupled with a sense of honor. Life has a reasonable purpose but he’s not a git about it.
What about the rest of you?