I don't think the op was asking which style of playing was correct, nor which we choose to play in which context.
The question seems to be more which kind of player are you. By instinct, in your heart.
So even though my style has matured (become less risky and adventurous) as I've gotten older, there's no question I'm a front of stage player by nature.
I have always been excited by the bass. While I love finding a groove and just sitting on it, I adore hearing an ascending run climb from the swamp, muscle its way through the mix, and rise to glory.
When I started out I couldn't play enough notes. I always tried to stay with the kick, but I matched every drum fill beat for beat. I loved it. I had no one to tell me it was too busy and therefore wrong.
Listening to the very few cassettes I have of that band, I am astonished by the playing. I doubt I could play half the lines today; my memory isn't good enough, my hands get tired just thinking about it.
So that's the player I am. But it isn't the style I play any more. Have I become lazier and boring as I've got old? Yes, absolutely no question. But luckily I have found Basschat where I've learned that I can justify this by saying I am 'serving the song', and 'less is more'.
But come see me play and every now and then the music takes me, like a Tardis, back to 1982 and for four bars or so I'm that naive, enthusiastic young bassist who just can't get enough.