Gamers: Devour the game or Experience it?

So I was just reading a couple articles where there were conflicting opinions that resulted in some hurt feelings and odd name calling coupled with lengthy justifications regarding their own personal gaming styles. It is inevitable that we will encounter people who simply view the same game under a totally different lens than we do and it might generate this kind of friction, sure, but we can't go and rag on people for playing games in a way the fits with their approach to games.

I find myself wondering how gamers would classify themselves when it comes what angle you approach games at. Do you find yourself seeking to devour whatever game you take on? Is your goal in playing to simply conquer everything in your path, surmount every mountain the game presents to you? Is accomplishing everything more important to you than experiencing what the developers wanted you to experience? I feel like when you enter into a game studio that is committed to their craft you'll find yourself in the middle of a lot of people who are putting their blood, sweat, and tears into tailoring together a story. Sure you'll have projects you aren't exactly psyched to be working on but when you're creating an entire world from scratch that you know people will be expected to interact with you're a part of a very long-term art project. So what happens? Certain games don't exactly fit with crowds outside of their dedicated player base. If someone plays RPGs their entire life and then they are forced to go play an FPS chances are they won't enjoy it as much.

So this is sort of where this jumbled rant will hopefully become clear, my main question here is: Is there a way to play a game wrong? My personal answer to this is no, no you cannot play a game wrong it is simply impossible. You can do things wrong whilst playing the game but you are given a degree of sovereignty over part (or all of) the world you're experiencing. While playing Halo I can say screw this alien fighting crap I want to run away into the mountains and be the most awesome hermit ever. You can do that. Chances are you'll get bored pretty fast or fall and die and not have fun but you're allowed to do that.

Personally I would classify myself under the "Devourer" category since my main goal in whatever game I'm playing is to conquer anything worthwhile. I also try to find ways to break games to a certain degree. If I'm told no, I say why not and try to find a way around it. Example: Aion, there are skills you can use that lock your character into place, you aren't supposed to be able to move around at all while using these skills for various reasons. I defied that rule and found a way to avoid this mechanic without actually exiting the rules of the game itself (no cheats involved). That being said I still do enjoy a good story and am a hardcore RPG fan for that reason alone, I love watching events unfold and understanding my role within a world much larger than my character. I also happen to enjoy getting that fancy little 100% completion on certain games. I apologize to my abused Tales of Symphonia discs, Persona 3/4 discs, Legend of Dragoon/Legaia/Legaia 2 discs. They deserved better.

So I'll conclude this post with a question, what kind of gamer do you consider yourself? Feel free to make up your own categories that describe your habits, comment if you'd like or just think about it, whatever works for you.