What I Learned Playing Call of Duty: Warzone for the Past Several Weeks

Before Warzone, the last Call of Duty videogame I played was Call of Duty 3, the WWII version released in 2006. I probably played it for 5 minutes until I decided I had better videogames to play. This was well before streaming on twitch was a thing, and so I didn't bother making content from it. 

Well, 14 years later, after several CoD reiterations, sequels, versions, and other additions to the IP, I was reluctant to try out Warzone, even though the game was free. 

 After basically giving up on CoD, I was pleasantly surprised with Warzone. One game, entirely free, that I enjoy playing with friends. 

That doesn't suggest the game is inexpensive if you decide to purchase battle packs. I'm not well-versed on all the extras you can purchase with the packs available in Warzone, but it's clear you can spend much more than the price of a standard video game. 

 However, my understanding is that you won't suffer a bad gameplay experience if you don't spend money on the game. I don't think there's a "pay to win" model in play here, which is entirely refreshing. I could be wrong, but that's because I don't know the difference between what you get for free and what you get for paying. 

 But I think my biggest point of ignorance is that I was wrong to dismiss a triple-A game with a specific "safe" development model. A lot of my efforts in gaming lean towards finding the "unqiue" games, the diamonds in the rough, the unsung gems that deserve attention. 

 But I suppose I was blinded by what I assumed was the "non-gamer" model. That people who play CoD aren't "gamers." They just fall victim to what sells the most. Boy, I was wrong.

Playing Call of Duty: Warzone with the LA/OC StackUp Members

I finally launched a Warzone night with StackUp of LA/OC, and I can see that we're only going to grow in numbers as we make Fridays a common Warzone night. Not everyone in the gaming audio channel joined us in play, but we had some interesting conversations while playing—one StackUp member even shared stories about how he nearly "kicked the bucket." 

You learn a lot about people when you play games together, since anecdotes and life experiences are often shared in the small bits of conversation. Warzone is friendly to that, especially if you decide to "ride the circle" as its said (a strategy where you stay on the very rim of the gas and inch forward as the game goes on). 

This was one of a few events I've held for StackUp since I took over the Los Angeles / Orange County Stack lead position. Since COVID, events are obviously put on hold indefinitely. Hopefully, they'll start up again next year, but for now, online events are the best way to really bring camaraderie to a veterans' support group.

If you're a veteran and interested in joining StackUp, please check their website here. The LA/OC Stack plays Warzone every Friday (typically) at 6 PM PST.