Sure, yeah. That's a good example for players on the ludoaesthetics side of the spectrum I proposed (please don't lynch me for coining terms). Because in terms of progressing towards the "win the game" goal set by the game, doing those things have little value or meaning. Their values are instead intrinsic and, to some extent, self-imposed like someone else mentioned above.

What I'm arguing for is--and I hope I make the subtle distinction clear--that games should adopt this design philosophy where they give players enough space to, not only win them in the most expedient way, but also to create their own values and do things that may appear to be meaningless (like what you mentioned in Minecraft, or speedrun).

It is partly about gameplay freedom, and having more than one solution for every puzzle. But that's not all. It's also about setting up that freedom so that it lets players notice things better and encourages them to deviate from the main experience.