How Important is it to study openings?

I will first admit to being a rather novice chess at this juncture of my career. That being said, I am curious how important it is to study opening book moves. Is it possible to evolve into a competent chess player without studying such things?

I feel like if I simply play a large volume of games that over time I will develop a store of knowledge about what openings are effective or not for my personal playing style. So is that a naive way to go about chess if I hope to be somewhat competent someday? I am open to any advice that anyone has to offer.

Also feel free to call me a fool for thinking that it isn't important to learn and study opening moves. Just please tell what why.

Thanks.

I'm not a good chess player, but for a while in live chess I relied heavily on the Fried Liver, Budapest Gambit, and the Halloween Gambit and my rating got to over 1400 in live chess (a few weeks prior to the intro of Live Chess 2).  Then I decided I was tired of the gimmicks and would just play on instinct and my rating dropped gradually to under 1300.  Of course if you're playing 960, then you don't need to learn openings - even opening theory as such is irrelevant in 960 regardless of what some say.  With standard chess  you're constantly fighting this deep intuitive knowledge of the initial board config that everyone has, and intuitive knowledge about how that opening config can evolve.

You got the right idea experience and calculation alone will be good enough to get you to a high level without having to learn a single book line. But if you want to win alot early on studying openings is the way to go. Although best would be to study all aspects of the game, it would make you a more complete player over time.

I study openings for the ideas.  For example, an author recommends a prophylactic h3 in some Ruy Lopez variations, but not in others.  Why?  When is the Bg4 pin problematic for White, and when is it an inaccuracy that he can use to his advantage?  Without memorizing all the variations, I can use the principles to judge when h3 is necessary in Ruy Lopez games, and even in games that use other openings.

That, and if you play a highly theoretical and tactical opening (the Sicilian Dragon and the Max Lange Attack come to mind), you'll need to memorize some moves to even survive the opening.

Definitely prioritize general chess principles in your studies, though, especially if you play quiet openings.  I'm in the minority in paying as much attention to openings as I do.