taking gote in error
The difference between Sente or gote can be large. If you do the same thing in gote that could also be done in sente, that is a big difference - you lose a whole move. Players obviously will prefer sente sequences, other things being equal.
Example:
(We assume that the region to the right is Black's territory.)
takes gote. White has made a local gain. Black's threat is at a, OC, which transposes to the next diagram.