Okay to throw my two bits in...

The game of Exalted I ran for 2 years was a bit like how Pundit sees the RPG net guys describe it.  I had some setting revisals I wanted to do to the game so I thought "Hey why not let the players carry out the epic setting changes themselves so they feel cool about themselves."  That was the story, so admittedly I was a bit light on them, but we all had fun and it was a nice epic game.

A good friend of mine runs Exalted like new World of Darkness + Call of Cthulhu blended with the most extreme golden railroad philosophy I've ever seen.  Hers is a game of true horror where you watch helplessly as demons tear apart your girlfriend, and if you step out and use your powers in any obvious way you better have a ticket out of town ready because everything and their dire hound will be on your trail 15 seconds later.

Ultimately there's no one way to play it just like any RPG.  I can do power gaming just fine in most games, but ran by a couple of my friends that just doesn't work.  It's the way they run.