I always go for max light side on the first run or at least nearly max. I am willing to abuse mind altering force powers to take smug bastards down a peg like in KOTOR where you can counter taunt the sith lady and use the force to get her in trouble with the local authorities. So only deviate from light side when the alternative is really dumb. I'll also exploit loopholes for loot. I decided to apologize to the sand people for disrobing their dead so they would become enraged and attack me so I could kill them all in self-defense, netting me xp, my dragon pearl back, and tons of loot.
Playing evil is much harder since there are so many different ways to be evil. There's chaotic stupid where you just kill everything in sight, which usually costs you sidequests, affection rating, etc. There's also sneaky evil where you do things to increase your power and get people to like you so you can corrupt them. Then there's pointless jerk evil where you go out of your way to help someone, build up their dreams, crush their dreams, rob them, murder their entire family, kick their dog, laugh at them, and then kill them.