I myself fall into the purist category and (apart from a few exceptions) try to play the straightforward, as-presented product. If a minor tweak helps, I don’t mind, but if a game needs serious help I won’t bother wasting my time making it work–that was the author’s job in the first place.
Quotes about house rules
As crazy as it may seem, not knowing how to play did not stand in the way of me playing, nor did it preclude my enjoyment. In fact, having to fill in some gaps with house rules or personal interpretations made it easy for me to add new rules that seemed to make sense or added a bit of flavor.