Players who know the rules? Sure. That's a player who knows the rules. The vast majority of the DMs love players who know the rules, because that's one less player that they have to worry about. Hey, DM, I just noticed my sixth level Champion has this ability called ... um ... second wind. What does this do?
A player who knows the rules and spends all their time telling the DM the rules and how the DM should rule?
How about a "backseat DM." Because, like a backseat driver, they aren't actually driving, but instead spending their time telling the actual driver how they should drive. And they are appreciated by the other people at the table in much the same way that everyone in the car loves the backseat driver.
I kid, kind of, but it's always a lack of self-awareness that is the defining feature. And it's not a player-side only issue. For example, no matter how many times people will say that they don't enjoy DM PCs, there is always a DM who will be, "Ak-shually, DM PCs are awesome. If it wasn't for my DM PC, Deus the Machine, the whole party would have died several times over!!!!"
I have a character that could have been a DMPC, but he literally
can't actively do stuff 99% of the time because he's undercover. He does help when he can though. I was genuinely afraid the players would hate him. Thankfully, I was wrong. He has become a beloved friend, mentor, and ally; one of the players genuinely teared up a bit from a sincere moment of "I'm very proud of you" from him.
I think the secret sauce is that he was a fun mystery to crack, and that he has both sincerely helped them and sincerely
needed their help in return, so it feels like a fair exchange. He's not Superman swooping in to save the day. Plus, initially, he was just a guy with some weird powers; his true nature took time to reveal, and doing so was a major gesture of trust.
Or maybe I just have really polite players. Hard to say!
Oh, those lists made the rounds, sometimes very tediously. Though a lot of them had Real Role-players instead of Powergamers.
A sample:
Real Men, Real Rôle-Players, Loonies and Munchkins
The "Real Role-Players" are just the "but it's what my character would dooooo!!!" version of Munchkins, or at least that's how the term has evolved in my experience. ("Real Role-Players" are the ones who make intentionally garbage characters because, they claim, being flawed inherently makes better roleplay, so the more flawed the character is, the better they are for roleplaying. Hence, a character that has
nothing but flaws must be the most perfect roleplay opportunity of all time!) Looks like there we have again an issue with a term that was originally neutral getting thrown on the euphemism treadmill, becoming associated only with its worst aspects.
One irony, for me, is that that list seems to think Munchkins are somehow simultaneously both very young (several jabs are built around them being actual children, e.g. with a curfew) and yet also well-read
specifically TSR players who engage in behaviors that were
very common even among the very earliest players (e.g. if character dies, "Generate new character with exact same stats and equipment, but a new name").