A new game has swept through the school leaving students raving. But what is it? Among Us is an online game featuring a group of astronauts divided into two groups. Crewmates, who try to complete a series of tasks and Imposters who try to prevent that from happening by killing the crewmates. The twist: no one knows the identity of the imposters.
“I like to explain it as a murder mystery game where you’re trapped with a bunch of people and one of you, or maybe more, are trying to kill [everyone],” junior, Madelyn Vokes said. “You have to figure out who they are and boot them off or you lose.”
Among us came out in 2018 but did not become popular until this summer why Covid-19 restriction caused people to quarantine or socially distance.
“It’s a way for anybody to be able to play with all of their friends,” sophomore, Kylia Lambert said. “You don’t all have to have one type of platform to play on which makes it a really fun way to interact with your friends, especially now when we’re not able to go out and see people as often.”
According to Safebettingsites.com, the game has 158 million installations worldwide, but as the games downloads skyrocketed, so did the amount of time spent playing or watching it. This year people watched over 200 hours worth of Among Us gameplay.
“Just yesterday I hit 40 hours,” sophomore, Logan Branum said. “Not including phone time, that’s just on the computer. Whenever I’m done with assignments I play Among Us, so I probably have like 45 hours.”
However, the reason players find Among Us so addicting may be less about the game itself and more about the people they play with. Several students said that they became closer to their friends as they learned more about them in an enjoyable environment.
“I’ve worked as a team with several people I’ve never had to work with,” Vokes said. “I’ve made inside jokes and started talking to people I’ve don’t always hang out with. I think it bonds me with people whenever I’m like ‘hey, we should play Among Us sometime.’”
In fact, it has made such an impact that players have encouraged others to get the game just so they can have more people to play with, even offering advice to new players.
“If you’re an imposter, always turn off the lights, it’s the easiest way to kill people,” Lambert said. “If you’re a crewmate make sure you’re never alone and watch out for electrical.”
