Ebbie, it depended upon the person. Aaron Burr, for example, in his duel with Alexander Hamilton, shot Hamilton dead while Hamilton fired into the air (deloped, in technical terms). When told of it, Burr is reported to have sniffed, "Contemptible, if true."

On the other hand, Abe Lincoln "fought a duel" by insisting upon dragoon broadswords -- long, heavy weapons used in a chopping manner from horseback -- and making sure that his opponent saw him using one to chop the top off a fencepost little by little. The opponent settled the duel. (Lincoln was not proud of this episode, but had little choice at the time.)

Duels could be fought to first fire (with pistols), first blood, until one of the duelists couldn't fight anymore, or to the death. There are numerous accounts of one of the duelists helping the other off the field, even of the two making up on the field -- and just as many of one butchering the other, who was far less experienced.

Fencing IS fun. Dueling was a well-mannered excuse for potential homicide. Being beset in the street was a brawl to the death, and no, in that situation it was "kill or be killed."