I am curious how does anyone play with the way the games are heading?

Do you still like to only play the story and be done with it or are you a competitive player that is always just randomly fighting people or even with scarlet and violet playing with friends in the overworld?

Myself I am still primarily playing just to experience the story and then I am done for the most part. Occasionally I will Masuda Method some shinies but I largely stay out of the multiplayer side of things whether it is playing with others or battling.

I dabble in different things I love some of the in game post game content like the PWT or the Battle Frontier but I've also played VGC in Galar and Scarlet I almost always was playing with Furret and deggle.

I'm definitely more of a casual player. I enjoy playing through the game and catching as many different Pokemon as I can. A lot of times I'll try to complete the Pokedex. I don't really battle competitively. If I am in the mood to battle I'll usually just use Pokemon Showdown rather than having to spend time getting Pokemon with the right IVs and EVs to battle in the actual games.

I never bothered with competitive games until scarlet and violet came out. I mostly focus on the story, regular leveling, and the Pokedex.

I haven't enjoyed a recent Pokémon game in a while now, but my typical approach to playing is pretty casual– progress through the main story, catch Pokémon I think are interesting along the way, grind here and there if necessary (almost never the case with modern Pokémon games), beat the Elite 4 and the Champion, and then I'll go out and do postgame stuff, catch legends, and then complete the Pokédex. Completing the Pokédex is usually the last big thing I do in a Pokémon game before putting a bow on it for good.

If I feel compelled to shiny hunt or Masuda Method breed a Pokémon for IVs (or for a shiny), then I'll do that after completing the dex and getting the shiny charm. That's pretty much it, I don't care about competitive battling or battling other people in general. I enjoyed it a bit during the 3DS era of Pokémon games when playing with other people online was free, but those days are long gone...

Definitely casual, But i do usually make 1 mon my ace and the rest of the team are whatever i find pleasing

With the recent titles (read: anything X and Y up) I mainly just do one casual playthrough, usually trying to fit only new Pokemon (or forms) on my team. I've replayed all the 3DS games like exactly once, and I have no desire to play them again. The switch ones I don't even touch after I move on from it.

I've never delved into competitive pokemon on the game itself. Showdown a little, but mostly random battles.

I do replay older games more frequently, or at least hacks made from the base game, with challenge runs like nuzlockes to make it harder and more engaging for myself.