A good game with good players is an even better experience.
To many people, to whom the point is to get together and chat and socialise and eat and catch up and do a bit of gaming too, it's still a "yes", but to such a tiny extent that it's not a big deal.
As someone who spends 10 times as much time on gaming as most people (with jobs) can afford, you are at an extreme end of the spectrum. You also enjoy a good argument, so I'm sure you're happy to have found people with the opposite view who are passionate enough to argue with you about it.
Re: System doesn't matter much
To many people, to whom the point is to get together and chat and socialise and eat and catch up and do a bit of gaming too, it's still a "yes", but to such a tiny extent that it's not a big deal.
As someone who spends 10 times as much time on gaming as most people (with jobs) can afford, you are at an extreme end of the spectrum. You also enjoy a good argument, so I'm sure you're happy to have found people with the opposite view who are passionate enough to argue with you about it.