Paul Mitchener BW definitely needs dedicated players. As a novice BW GM, I ran three mini campaigns over the last two years and the wheel refuses to turn (pun intended) if your players don’t want to help carry the load.

The Artha/BITs system requires players (at least occasionally) chase the carrot. If they don’t act on their BITs, they don’t get Artha. Aside from the game’s mechanical benefits (increases in stat numbers, more/better roll bonuses, etc.), this also means the players aren’t engaging with the story they said they wanted to take part in.

It’s a difficult game, but I agree: you need dedicated players more so than most other systems. Half-assing Burning Wheel isn’t really an option.