Among Us is a multiplayer online social deduction game developed by Innersloth, released in 2018. It is available on platforms such as Steam, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox. The game is suitable for players who enjoy social deduction games and party games.
The mechanics of this game are very similar to classic social deduction games like Mafia and Werewolf: hidden identities, speaking, voting, and elimination. The game consists of 4-15 players divided into two groups: Crewmate and Impostor. The goal of Crewmate is to complete tasks and identify the Impostor, while the goal of the Impostor is to win the game by killing Crewmate.
During the pandemic, many of my friends were playing this game. However, as someone who is very socially anxious, I dislike almost all social deduction games. I have played Mafia and Werewolf multiple times before, and I am sure I cannot enjoy these games. There are two main reasons:
1. Boring: When playing as a regular role, I spend most of the time passively listening to others argue, having no impact on the situation, and often thinking about looking down at my phone to kill time.
2. Social Anxiety: The need to defend, argue, or accuse others in the game always makes me feel awkward and uneasy, to the point where I keep thinking about whether I said something wrong before going to bed.
After two hours of playing, I found that Among Us effectively addressed both of these issues.
No Boring Time
The game of Among Us is real-time, with a rich map. There are many rooms and corridors on the map, and players have limited visibility. Impostor can use the environment on the map to find opportunities to kill. These mechanisms create a very interesting dynamic: players need to move very strategically, such as blocking vision and moving in groups. This keeps me tense every second of the game. Every time I move on the map, I am thinking about how to move to avoid being killed by Impostor or how to use the environment to kill Crewmates.
There are many tasks to complete in the game. Crewmate needs to complete these tasks, and Imposter can also sabotage to force Crewmate to complete time-limited tasks. These tasks themselves are simple mini-games, such as shooting meteors in the picture. These mini-games effectively fill the game time and avoid long periods of waiting. More importantly, they give players a reason to move in the game, leading to more interactions.
When I die, I become a ghost and continue to move on the map and do some things. This mechanism prevents me from feeling bored even after death.
Less Social Anxiety
Among Us provides a very simple social environment. Each player is represented by a simple cartoon image and an automatically generated name, reducing anxiety caused by identity exposure. I played the game on a mobile platform without voice chat, only through text. The game provides a Phrase Builder that allows players to quickly construct sentences with a few clicks. This feature greatly reduces the pressure of organizing language and speaking in the game.
Ethical Concerns of Bluffing
In real life, lying is generally considered an immoral act. However, in Among Us, lying is clearly one of the core mechanics of the game and is unrelated to morality. In my gaming experience, one player led us to victory in several consecutive rounds, earning my trust. Until one round, he played as Impostor and led everyone to eliminate two Crewmates. I defended him, and then in a corner, he pretended to do tasks and killed me. I didn’t feel angry about being deceived; instead, I felt very happy and admired his clever performance. I think Among Us did two things right:
– First, through the design of the background story, when players play as Impostor, lying is a role-playing act of an evil alien, which dilutes the moral burden of lying.
– Second, the time limit for each round and random role assignment prevent us from establishing long-term trust or hostility. Betrayal in one round does not affect the gaming experience in the next round, nor does it affect relationships outside the game.
Suggestions for Improvement
During the game, I found that some designs in this game may not have achieved the expected effect. For example, most task designs are too simple. Although they are friendly to new players, if these tasks require players to maintain focus, the sudden appearance of Impostor will be more stimulating. The discussion session in the game is quite chaotic, and an active speaker will overshadow most people’s voices. I think using a traditional turn-taking speaking mechanism would better allow everyone to participate in the discussion.
