CoD is actually damn good. Maybe its just not what these people like as they prefer casual games.

COD is fun once you get into it for just a few minutes. Its got awesome killstreaks, a fully driven campaign, nazi zombies, action packed vehicle scenes, awesome weapons, and you get to control a chopper and a gunship when you have enough killstreaks

I recommend Call of duty 2, Modern warfare 2, and/or Black ops. Those are really fun to play