Why can't I move the camera as freely as I can navigate in the 3D View? Just switched from maya to blender and as you can assume, I'm having some troubles. I can figure out the program just fine, but I want to know the reason why the render camera is designed with such navigation restrictions? Why not give it the same movability as the viewport? And is there a way I can change this?
The camera has absolutely no restrictions whatsoever. Normally you can move it just like you can move any object with your Move, Rotate and Scale tools. 

If you want something like a first-person-mode expand the side panel on the right edge of your 3D-view (or hit the N-key on your keyboard) and then go to the tab View->View Lock and toggle Lock Camera to View. This will "bind" the camera to your viewport perspective. 

Once you're happy with your camera position un-toggle the option to move freely again, without accidentally displacing your camera.