Basically, yea. They're just for messing around.
The reason you got shot right away is because people make it a point to land as quickly as possible on a spot they know spawns guns.
I usually land on the roof of the White House at anarchy acres or fatal fields because a ton of weapons spawn in the house and there's 2 possible chests that spawn in that house. If I can land there before anyone else, I'll kill them before they get a chance to shoot back.
Of course that's a somewhat popular area to land, so you'll usually have to kill 2 to 4 people before you leave. Im only able to do it about like 60-70% of the time, but if you pull it off, you end up with a crap ton of loot. Ready for mid/end game.
And if you fail, it's a short game and you don't waste time being underequipped in the late game against what are inevitably the best players on the field.