Reaction-based gaming

One of the appeals of IronMON is that it allows users to engage in what I like to call "reaction-based gaming." It's a type of gaming that occurs when you can safely shut off your brain at all times except the ones in which the game gives you something to react to.

In casual gameplay, such as first playthroughs, gaming is not entirely reaction-based. Although you are reacting to a constant stream of new information, you also have to make decisions about what to do in an unknown environment. If you're entering a large area in an open-world game, do you go east or west? If you're facing a boss, which attack is most effective? Unless you have a guide, these questions require critical thinking.

In most competitive games, the best players favor preparation over reaction. The best Pokemon players spend hours crafting and testing their teams. The best speedrunners study the fastest routes and most efficient practice methods. The best chess players prepare for big matches by studying openings and creating a game plan based on them.

IronMON runs, on the other hand, don't require the brain power that first playthroughs or competitive games have. Most IronMON players have beaten the game many times. This means whenever they reach a puzzle or open area, they don't need to stop and think about where to go; usually the visual reminders within the game are enough. Battles are different since they're randomized, but IronMON randomization settings make battles so unpredictable that preparing for them is extremely inefficient. Those who have tried to prepare optimally have often run into practical problems as a result of the sheer magnitude of the randomness; for example, a single damage calculation can cause Microsoft Excel to lag for 15 seconds! The most reasonable way for anyone to play is to mindlessly progress through the battles and then react to the Pokemon they see.

For example: A player is running a Jolteon with Bite, Shock Wave, Eruption and Crabhammer. They enter a battle in a dungeon with
4 Pokemon. They might have a plan to save Eruption PP, but this plan is heavily contingent on avoiding specific Pokemon, which they can't control. The first Pokemon is Mr. Mime -- Bite. The second is Gyarados -- Shock Wave. The third is Camerupt -- but the IronMON tracker tells you it has Poison Point, and you have only 1 Antidote. You have no choice but to use Eruption. It survives on low HP and uses Earthquake for big damage. Yikes, this wasn't part of the plan! You finish it with Eruption, and then the last Pokemon is Ditto. You weren't planning to heal during this fight, but now you must, and thankfully Ditto is an easy Pokemon to heal on.

The example fight above is a fairly complex one by IronMON standards, and yet it requires minimal brainpower because every decision is a reaction.

There are many pros and cons to reaction-based gaming. The main pro is that it allows the player to enjoy interactive gameplay when they are tired or in the mood to relax. They don't need to expend effort waking up their brain to perform a challenging task. They can just turn on the game and play mindlessly until something in the game wakes their brain up automatically.

The main con is that turning your brain off is an unhealthy habit if done for too long, and randomized runs provide frequent dopamine hits that make it easy to play for hours. Many IronMON variants also offer unrealistic goals that provide the illusion of productivity. Examples include beating Super Kaizo IronMON (no one has in 9 months) and beating the game with your favorite Pokemon (this is unlikely to happen in 3000 seeds).

In my opinion, the best way to enjoy the relaxing yet exciting nature of IronMON runs without suffering brain rot is to improve the quality of the goals in the IronMON community. In particular, I think the goals would be better off rewarding players for skill and preparation, and less for luck and grinding. However, the community's gradual shift toward luck-based, "impossible" challenges suggests that many in the community prefer to turn their brains off while gaming -- for better or worse.