I argue that the complexity of mechanics in Among Us foster’s the creation of short term relationships between those within each lobby, which is impossible in games of simpler mechanics.
Having played for the first time in 4 years, my initial response was that I was very overwhelmed by the amount of mechanics and information that I was expected to keep track of. I think that there might be some friction for new users as they learn not only the different mechanics of their role, but those of other roles in order to strategize against the killers. I noticed as well that players communicate different helpful information in shortened explanations, and there is an assumed knowledge that only comes from playtime. I initially found myself very lost, however when my friend who had played more recently played with me, he seamlessly began playing and communicating with other players in a similar coded fashion. This illuminate to me an “in-group” dynamic of fellowship between players who had spent a lot of time within the game, denoted by levels of knowledge of the different game mechanics. From a game designer choice, I think that the large amount of mechanics was a wise choice because it allows the game to become more expansive the more that you play: noobs such as myself will only use the most readily available mechanics as we learn the game, but through exploring and observing others, we begin to unlock new strategies to use as our own once gaining comfortability with the lower level skills we began with. Another design point I encountered was that the friction that new players encounter is lessened both by the rapid elevation of levels awarded each game, which cleverly encourages users to continue their progress, and the fact that there is so much activity in the game that it is still entertaining to play after you have been killed or “lost” your role of the game.
It is here that I want to offer an analysis between Among Us and games of a similar social deduction games such as mafia. In amongus there are much more tools than mafia both to kill without being seen, and to justify yourself or others as innocent. For example, in among us, there is the option to view certain rooms on cameras in order to catch a killer, or alternatively feel safe that you are being watched over, and there is foundational knowledge that the killer can jump out of vents. These mechanics allow players to form much more strategic arguments and defenses to be raised when it is time to discuss who will be killed off, and dynamics emerged in my game where players were invited to perform tasks to “prove their innocence” or face being voted out. In my example a blue player called goblin instructed green to perform a role of engineer, the only non imposter role which also had access to vent travel and convinced the rest of the team to hold off voting until this investigation had been completed. In contrast to mafia, there is the fact that dead crewmates also still have roles to fill after being killed even if they can no longer participate in living discussions. While dead crewmates are prompted to continue doing tasks around the ship, the addition of a “protect” mechanic performed by dead crewmates alongside a heightened speed and ability to pass through walls creates an interesting dynamic where victims may be inclined to follow their killer around in order to save their killer’s future victims. I both participated in this dynamic as a dead player, and had earlier observed it, as when I was killed I saw one green, pink, and yellow angel crewmates hovering around my body, having followed the killer to me (I was unable to screenshot before my body was discovered but trust). This can introduce an aspect of comradery akin to the fellowship aesthetic of play, as ghosts are seen abandoning their formal goal of completing crewmate tasks in order to perform an extracurricular role as guardian to the other players bounded within their lobby. All of these dynamics in which players show trust, loyalty, and commonality for the players within their lobby point to an element of fellowship which is impossible in games of a similar genre with less mechanics.
