KORPG™ Games 
Hey! You got chocolate in my peanut butter
You:
You, you’re battling the game.
Your opponent is the system and the numbers that define it.
You must take advantage of every conceivable bonus and find ways of mitigating any penalties or the system will get a leg-up on you. To you, the system is the opponent to be beaten and the story is just the means of interacting with it.
Me:
Me, I’m battling the story-line and scenario.
I’m not playing the numbers like you.
Often when I play, those numbers aren’t chosen in the most efficacious manner, rather they’re chosen because of the evolving nature of my character because I must choose the advantages and disadvantages based on the history my character has within the game world. To me the story is to be interacted with and the system is the means of interacting with it.
But…
But you know what’s cool?
We sit at the same table and play in the same game at the same time.
Oh sure, I smirk when I see you pouring over the newest splat-books, seeking some advantage you can bring to bear.
But in like manner, I expect you inwardly chuckle and shake your head sadly when I knowingly and deliberately take a penalty or a poor choice (optimal build-wise) because “it makes sense.”
Sure, we’re not playing the same game the same way, but we’re still playing the same game.
Very true stuff, and how boring would it be if we were all the same. In this discussion, I’m the ‘you’, and I have to say, diversity ideologies aside, I’d rather play with more people like that, than the other.
Agreed, that would be boring.
And I can see how being “the odd man out” as it were would make me uncomfortable in some settings.
Were I the only one at the table making the story more important than the system when everyone else was obviously not, I’d probably figure I needed to adjust my focus or find a new group.
But the amazing thing about RPGs is that we can play them differently, and even more amazingly we can play them differently at the same time.
There are lots of shades of grey between your two extremes. Actually they are not just two extremes, but different dimensions. I think it’s best when a player engages both with the story and the rules. Most games have lots of options in them. There’s lots of room to make choices in character that are reasonably effective. Maybe not optimized, but not ineffective. Likewise, if you want to choose something for rules advantage, think about how that affects the story. Who would have worked to develop such an ability and where did they learn it?
By having both types work at engaging both foes, they learn to understand each other better and they work better together.
Oh, I wasn’t intending my examples to be either exclusive nor exhaustive – there’s a world of shades between the two and at times I sit in both camps.
I found the concept interesting given that most “traditional games” (board, card, etc.) almost need to be played with everyone focusing on the same emphasis.
My kids oftentimes find themselves at odds when one wants to play pretend with a story in mind while the other sees the presentation as a challenge to defeat.
Neither method is (alone) right or wrong, but when they try to play together they’re presented with issues of desire and outcome-control.
Now I’ll grant that the friction generated is one that age and maturity will lessen, but interestingly enough, RPGs allow a large number of us to have divergent foci within a framework where I can play the story and you can play the system and we’re both probably happy with the expectation and outcome of the game.
…and they say there is no intelligent conversation on the internet…
Solid post, and great follow up!
I agree with the sentiment that we can ‘all get along,’ but despite that my group failed once when one of the players needed to tinker with every system before, during, and as a result of play.
In ye olde days of radio, before the advent of FM even, those people were called ‘Knob Twiddlers’
As in, “Lemme see if I can get this station in jut a bit clearer… Dang! Lost it.”
Exactly!
I just end up thinking of them as knobs…
And that ladies and gentlemen is the very reason I should install a +1/like voting system for comments… so I could +10000000 comments like that.