These examples seem mutually exclusive, but I'm not sure why you're asking that. I'm saying the RPG landscape is much more varied than two opposing edge cases - which is how memes tend to misrepresent the world.

That's because the first group does their mimic checks

There's "everything goes exactly as planned until one player derails the whole session unhindered by rolls or turns" rules-light and "let things flow more naturally and allow things outside the rules if everyone thinks they add to the story" rules-light though... Personally I much prefer the presence of rules which can be followed if convenient or desired, or ignored if you'd rather, but it is also equally valid to want to do collaborative storytelling/investigation without being derailed by bad rolls, I just know that dealing with setbacks and things not going to plan (which is different to things not succeeding in a pre-planned manner, but again equally valid, along with everything going well if you'd rather) is probably my favourite part

"And your character?" "Three kobolds named Jeff."

my take is that the rules are there to facilitate stories and gameplay, because most people are absolutely horrible at making it fun on their own. it's just like playing minecraft, most people want survival mode so there's some mechanical impetus to do things, you don't generally end up with memorable moments on a creative server (you do end up with lots of neat art, however).