Balancing a Game Session: Conversation vs Action

[muranternet]

I just ran my first GURPS session since about twelve years ago or so, and it went pretty well, I think. We played over Skype/MapTool, and it went about 5 hours or so. Typical of my GURPS sessions, I let the players drive a lot of the story via conversation with each other and NPCs, and I happen to know pretty good players. We had to stop just before a big fight was about to take place, like literally as I was setting up the field, because a player had to go to bed; no problem, I just saved the campaign file and we scheduled a followup.

Now, the party didn't actually accomplish that much in traditional RPG terms (i.e. tallying up treasure recovered [0], maidens rescued [0], and mysteries solved [0.4]), but seemed to have a good time while the game was running due to the interaction. Afterwards they said they liked the session but thought they didn't actually get very far (whatever that means in an RPG).

As a GM where do you draw a line, if at all, on balancing character interaction and goofy RP stuff vs chopping up bad guys and grabbing boxes full of experience points? If the conversation is funny and interesting, I tend to let it run as I'm enjoying it too damn much, and it allows me to stretch as well and play off the characters' weird ideas (real or not) and interactions to drive the narrative in a logical direction. But maybe I fall too far in that direction and lose track of accomplishing missions and such for the party. I just want to know where everyone else falls in.