What do people want? The ultimate answer is it varies from person to person, but the irony is despite the uniqueness of individuals, people get involved in and choose romantic partners using a somewhat simple and common set of criteria, even if they're not consciously aware of it.

Mark Manson explained it well using a pyramid approach. The basic gist of it is that men have a hierarchy of romantic/sexual needs. The bottom must be satisfied before the top, but reaching the top is very rare. Here's the short form:

Level 1: hot enough for a one-night stand. Depending on the guy, this bar is pretty low, like 6 out of 10. The key to a girl getting past this point is having your shit together well enough that you aren't an embarrassment or a moped so to speak. Most women can achieve this.

Level 2: hot enough that you want an ongoing thing. This is where looks begin to matter less. But most guys will admit that hotter girls get away with more/we're less picky. The key to getting past this point is to have some depth and realize that the pursuit of being hot has diminishing returns.

Level 3: basic emotional compatibility. You want to spend time with them, this is where relationship potential starts to matter and no amount of looks can get you past this level unless the guy is needy/weak, inexperienced, or lying through his teeth. The key to getting over this level is to be someone he'd hang out with even if you weren't screwing like rabbits. Most guys with some sense will take an 8/10 that's fun and cool and likes sports, over a 10 with an IQ of 90 who's obsessed with her hair/nails/clothes. The only guys in that market to buy rather than rent are looking for trophy wives.

Level 4: love potential. This is where a guy decides whether or not to commit. Until this point, just being hot, cool/fun, and a good lay will stand a woman in good stead with most guys. At this point, a girl needs to inspire passion, which means taking a more active role in the relationship. Many girls seem to have trouble understanding this (partly because they're afraid of being OAG and it's easier to be passive). I say, most girls would have serious doubts about a guy that offered them love and commitment on a silver spoon, so it should make sense from both sides that she has to work for it. This is where emotional compatibility is most strongly tested, and frequently isn't.

Level 5: long term compatibility. This is where things like worldview, lifestyle desires and choices, and long term goals matter. At this point, you the girl are becoming part of the guy's identity. And you're both going to change over the long haul, so it's important that you evolve as people in a way that brings you closer together rather than growing apart. The key to this is being compatible enough as people that staying together indefinitely won't feel like a horrible compromise for either person. Many truly great love affairs die at this point because there's no future, often for reasons that are beyond either one's control. This is also where the "I can change him!" becomes a tempting and dangerous game to play.

For girls it's a little different, as emotional attraction is as much or more important than physical attraction, and commitment less of a bugaboo, while sex is. I'd speculate a woman's relationship pyramid goes like this:

Level 1: Basic emotional attraction - you must polarize. In my experience, women are easier to arouse but often less sexual at baseline. Which means the guy must attract. Some girls come into the picture already polarized, which means this step gets skipped - she wants to have sex for her own reasons. This fools a lot of guys and then they wonder what happened, the answer is her reasons disappeared but your need for her remained, killing what sexual tension was too easily formed. Showing your desire from a place of non-neediness or lack of committed intent, is a challenge - if you want her but don't need her, she has no power and you have something she wants. That's how ugly and/or poor guys get laid.

Level 2: Be a good listener. When women say this, they don't mean pay rapt attention, take notes, or remember shit she said a week ago verbatim - these are actually exactly the wrong things to do. What they mean is read in between the lines, intuit what she's thinking emotionally, and ideally show rather than tell that you know and understand. You can't lead anyone unless you understand them on an emotional level. And women hate giving instructions in bed, this completely kills the buzz for many of them. They want to lie back, have you ravish them, and make them cum without having to tell you (many don't even know how to cum with a guy). This is what separates guys she loves and craves sex with, from guys she tolerates. They want a guy who can lead them emotionally - this is why the starving artist type can pull girls otherwise way out his league and they fall passionately in love with them.

Level 3: Have your shit together - repair your fatal flaws. In the first few levels, we see how female attraction is mostly emotional and vaporous unless you've got good game. But that makes it no less necessary. Here is where the girl pyramid starts to make sense to guys (just as this is the same level that most girls can make sense of on the guy pyramid). Ultimately, who you sleep with and be with is a reflection of you as a person, and much more so for girls than guys. The starving artist who cleans up in that lower level, but fails here, while the beta male provider type often passes with flying colors here and finds himself in the friend zone/orbiting because the emotional attraction isn't there (unless the girl already brought it to the table, in which case it won't last). Unfortunately for guys, they have to be a bit of a romantic jack of all trades otherwise the girl won't truly commit. Usual deal-breakers at this point are things like: unemployment, obesity/very physically unattractive, severe emotional issues, socially unacceptable (way too old/illegal, in-law or a friend's ex, she/you is married with kids etc.), or you've got no future/immature. A girl wants a guy who can screw her silly, make her friends jealous, and impress her parents. That threshold when you really stop and think about it, isn't that high. And the further past it you are, the more women will be open to the idea sleeping with you (and therefore once you polarize and attract, you're in)

Level 4: Have something going for you, that can enrich her life. We've discussed what it takes to get a girl interested, we've discussed what it takes to become her lover, and her boyfriend. Now we're going to talk about what separates good boyfriend material from the ones she remembers when she's old and gray, the ones she wonders about what would have happened if she married you instead. Basically, you need a competitive advantage, something that makes you unique in a way she wants or needs. You can be a very social person who has a wide social circle. You can be really good looking and be great in the sack, or really smart, or successful at business, or come from a wealthy background. All you need is one thing that you're above average in, so that you can bring that to the table and make her more complete. And if you're paying attention, you'll use that competitive advantage to change her, that's how you mitigate her trying to change you. Because once you do this, her leaving means fundamentally changing/altering her identity - I'd be like cutting off a hand, the only way you'd do it is if you had no other choice.

Level 5: Be the One. In the same way that many guys want to sleep with as many hot women as possible, a woman wants the best guy or as good a guy as she can find, to commit and/or have children with them. Many aren't adverse to trading up or taking a lover on the side if they have to. But many find a good guy, and seek to guide his evolution towards her ideal. This of course implies that the two of you are in a relationship for the right reasons, otherwise her efforts are completely doomed to failure, rather than just partially. By the time you're at this point, you should be leading her to a place where both of you naturally fulfill each other's needs and can tolerate each other's flaws. That's how you stop her from trying to change you or looking for a plan B dude. Then there's only one thing missing - to step up and make her yours. Ultimately the guy that marries her is the one that takes the plunge. Many guys either marry her for the wrong reasons, at the wrong time, or fail to realize that she can't wait forever. Nowadays, marriage is more risky than ever, that's why it's so important to proactively fulfill her needs in order. Most women don't get divorced or have affairs because they like being a scummy person or don't care. They do it because they feel trapped. The same way guys do when they're stuck in a relationship that's not right for them.