But there are effectively no other players as far as you're concerned. You're playing against the dealer/house who makes purely rule-based plays.
I agree theres no direct me vs you money transfer but plenty of "we're all gonna start with $500 and whoever has more at the end of the night is the winner".
Although I would agree with you in spirit, if you want to feel like you're playing poker, theres no point in simulating it poorly with blackjack unless theres extenuating circumstances (one of your buddies is nuts for the game, or thinks he's gods gift to the card counting art, etc)
You can add rules on top of a game all you want (e.g. we're all gonna start...) but that doesn't change the actual game that's being played.