Hey friend, there’s no need to fear the possibilities. If you are the person named on the ticket you will be able to board. Tickets nowadays can be scanned a multitude of ways, most airlines I’ve flown with the same scanner can read QR codes, barcodes and whatever the SMS style code is called. This isn’t about reducing options for you, it’s about increasing them. If you feel more comfortable with a printed boarding pass then they will be happy for you to do that.
But in answer to your question, there’s nothing special about the cardboard the passes get printed on, it’s just to make it less likely that you’ll lose it or throw it away accidentally. But even then, you can just present ID at the ticket gate, they’ll verify that you’re who you say you are and let you on. So what I’m saying is; give it a shot. You’ve got nothing to lose.