When you are meeting your family do you tell them to their face that you don't want to sit with them because you have something more interesting to do, or do you play the game and try to extricate yourself gracefully?

It is the same thing, really. Showing you know how to behave.

Both sides might be playing a game, but the fact you are playing the game shows you have comprehension and you are a player.

If you show you are willing to make problems on such a simple question you may leave impression you are unreasonable and nobody wants to work with unreasonable divas, even if they are highly capable.

Nobody is being a "diva" by upfront stating things everyone already knows, but lies about. It doesn't require being an asshole about it either.

Yeah, except don't think for a minute you're a player in that situation, you're the one being played.

By trying to endear yourself to the person you're going to spend 8 hours per day with for the forseeable future?

Look, I'm as anticapitalist as the next guy, but trying to make yourself appealing as a coworker in a job interview is not a sign that you're "being played". Having an appealing answer to the question "why do you want to work here?" isn't a symbol of class oppression, it's a common-sense attribute of work life.

Anyway, this approach has always succeeded for me, including when I told the fintech company that I wanted to work there because it was the job in my industry nearest to my house. Both sides seemed happy with the outcome.

I always find this reasoning confusing. As a reasonably competent engineer, I've always felt like I have many employment options open to me. Yes I need to pay rent, but I always have an honest answer to the question that goes well beyond that. If I only cared about paying my rent, I would go work for a FANNG and triple my salary. I don't, because there are genuinely much more interesting reasons to work for a particular organization than money.