I like the Dungeon Dudes take here at about 11 min [video:youtube][/video]
Optimized and powerfull characters are fun! When people complain about "powergaming" they are bad dms who don't know how to properly dm and react to their players. They want set prices that have to follow their orders. Same thing applies to players. You can play off meta builds and that's totally fine, but don't try to controll the other players and make them feel bad you are gimping yourself
I agree. I think DMs who complain about powergaming are usually either poor DMs or unnecessarily dictatorial. However, Munchkins are, in a way, opposing a DM that is trying to tell a non-Munchkin story. We're trying to define the terms here, but the reality is the line between powergaming and Munchkinism is like porn; you know it when you see it but find it hard to describe in the abstract.
Alignment often goes like this, too. Players who are trying to interpret their alignment in an interesting manner are not doing anything wrong and DMs who try to enforce alignment change are usually punishing good roleplay, IMO. It doesn't hurt the game at all if the player interprets alignment some way and does things that appear to be antithetical as long as the player can explain the intent behind it. Hell, if the explanation isn't good, you could still let the player choose alignment and say they are suffering from a delusion or mental illness and it's still no problem usually. I remember in high school a guy who only like to play evil characters because good was boring. When he was DM, he'd force good characters to be boring, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
