How The Battle Royale Gaming Experience Created a New Social Environment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the midst of my senior year of high school, the world shut down. As I recall, NBA star Rudy Gobert started the domino effect that lead to the COVID-19 national shutdowns. Quickly, my high school years came to an end (although I am not complaining). Like many people around the world, my friends and I suddenly had a LOT of free time on our hands. Being stuck indoors, there weren’t a lot of things for us to do together besides play video games. Not just any video games though, battle royale video games. More specifically, Fortnite and Call of Duty Warzone.

For those who haven’t played these games, the basic premise is simple: you and a large group of other players are dropped onto a map and must fight to be the last person or team standing. Along the way, you can scavenge for weapons and supplies, build structures, and strategize with your teammates. It’s a fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled experience that can be both thrilling and frustrating.

One of the things I love about these games is the sheer variety of experiences you can have. Sometimes, you’ll drop into a match and be immediately taken out by another player before you even have a chance to loot a single weapon. Other times, you’ll find yourself in a heated battle with multiple players, each one trying to outsmart the others. And then there are those rare moments where you’ll make it to the final circle, heart racing as you try to outlast the remaining players and secure the victory.

Even with the variety of good experiences, there’s nothing quite as frustrating as spending 20 minutes looting and scavenging, only to be taken out by a camper hiding in a corner. Or worse yet, being killed by a player who seems to have an unfair advantage, whether it’s due to hacks or simply being better than you.

Fortnite Gameplay Shot

But despite the frustrations, my friends and I kept coming back to these games. There’s something addictive about the rush of adrenaline you get when you’re in the thick of battle with your friends, knowing that your survival depends on your skills and a bit of luck. But there was more than just the adrenaline that made it fun.

What made playing these games with my friends so fun wasn’t necessarily the games themselves but the new social environment that was cultivated through gaming during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since we were all stuck at home, gaming was one of the few ways we could really connect with each other. What once was lunchtime banter soon turned into roast sessions over the mic on Play Station party. And battle royale games, like Fortnite, required constant communication between you and your friends to win. So naturally, my friends and I would talk and game for hours and consistently look forward to doing it all again the next day.

Because of the pandemic, battle royale games inadvertently became a new form of interactive social media. Everyone was always online playing. Even when my friends weren’t on, I would join a random squad in Warzone or Fortnite, only to end up chatting and joking with new people for hours. The games were just a new medium for social interaction with friends and random people from around the world.

Call of Duty Warzone Gamplay Shot

Since then, the new battle royale video games have not had the same pull as they once did. People are always complaining how they miss the old Warzone and Fornite and how they feel like the new battle royale games lack the “fun” and “thrilling” aspect of the old games. Personally, I think people miss the social interaction these battle royale games once had during the pandemic. Not the content.

With life back in motion, people don’t have the time to play games as frequently as they did during the pandemic. As well, people are back out socializing in person! So it makes sense why the thrilling interactive aspect of these battle royale games have died down quiet a bit.

While at times I miss the gaming and social culture of battle royale games during the pandemic, I certainly do not miss the pandemic itself.

-Diego

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.