Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-28017960-20160320200029

Just speculating on the in universe nature of FIGHTs, based on what we know in-game. Some observations:

1.  Not every interaction starts with a FIGHT.

2.  Yet, sometimes monsters seem to enter FIGHTs involuntarily (Whimsun and Froggit in particular).

3.  FIGHTs and DATEs occur in an altered frame of reference.

4.  Humans (or at least, Frisk) have much less flexibility in how they attack than monsters.

5.  A few monsters (Vegetoid, Woshua) use attacks that increase the opponent's HP. (in other words, they can heal each other, at least potentially.)

6.  FIGHTs operate according to a set of cultural norms which are generally followed, but are not completely fixed.

I have some hypotheses as to the nature of FIGHTs but am looking for more data and other people's speculation.  