Degenerates Only: The Time Warp of Blackjack and Warzone

Casinos have a reputation for vacuuming time from lives and with particular investments they have become extremely efficient time thieves. With no windows, bright lights, and free alcoholic drinks (participating locations), the casual gambler can easily find him or herself spending hours watching cards flip. While Chipotle purposefully makes their seating area uncomfortable to keep the revolving door turning, a seat at a casino usually resembles more of a La-Z-Boy recliner than a normal chair. All this investment to make the player comfortable and we have not even begun to discuss the psychological pull of the card games. At this point, you may be asking yourself, “Why is he writing this gibberish?” To that notion you have reached the meat and potatoes of my post, I think blackjack (my favorite table game) and Call of Duty: Warzone share similarities that, like the casino environment, create time sucking machines.

Foremost, the parallels between blackjack and Warzone start with determining a starting point in each game. In Blackjack, a gambler must choose what table to sit down at. Multiple factors contribute to the final choice of where to sit such as: 21 payout ratios, side bets, and the amount other players. Similarly, in Warzone, the player has to make game time decisions on where to land on the map. He or she has to think about the popularity of certain areas and the amount of contracts in that area.

Contracts are the side bets of Call of Duty. Once a player accepts a contract they must perform tasks under a time constraint. If they complete the task, the player receives cash (in game currency) and experience towards weapon modifications. There is a similar path gamblers and Warzone players must make in their initial choices. 

(Scavenger is a type of contract)

Furthermore, the connection continues to crystalize with common mistakes of both gambler and player. In both games, players balance risk aversion vs. risk seeking behavior. For the gambler, a common mistake is not reading the shoe. With large amounts of capital, gamblers decide to bet heavy when the cards tell them otherwise because he or she seeks immediate gains. For the gamer, a similar case unfolds with the want to acquire kills. Players will often attack when the odds are not in their favor (LEEROY JENKINS). With terrible weapons (the crossbow) or being outnumbered in a fight, a Warzone player may still attack in an attempt to seek immediate gains. In either case, the pull of instant gratification takes over and greed seeps through the hands. The constant balancing act always makes me lose sense of time. 

(Crossbow: arguably the worst gun in the game)

Finally, Blackjack and Warzone both eat away at time because of the high of winning. In Blackjack, winning is simple, you leave the table with more money than when you left. As simple as the concept may be, seeing the cards turn and winning a shoe has a positive emotional response, and you are one step closer to bringing down the house. In Warzone, the winning feels the same. Starting a round with 150 other players in the lobby and winning the game also has a strong emotional response. However, winning in either game does not occur that often but once you have a taste of victory time is no longer a factor.

Ultimately, Blackjack and Warzone have similarities that turn both games into vacuums of time. I challenge you to analyze a hobby or interest and determine why you may lose track of time so easily.