![]() Unlike Fortnite (a 'pay to win' game) where players spend real money to develop their armoury, wardrobe and even dance moves, Among Us is much more low key, based on teamwork/communication and far less competitive than others of it kind. Each game lasts five or six minutes and the stakes are relatively low. 'Among Us' appears to be quite a leveler in bringing students of different social groupings together. Perhaps not a bad thing but this can be quite awkward for new starters and Year 7s starting a new school. Students find themselves enforced into bubble groups, with no choice but to socialise and mix with those they might not otherwise choose to spend time with. No longer do we have busy corridors, noisy playgrounds and the usual hustle and bustle during breaks. In many schools around the world, socialising is severely restricted due to social distancing and other Covid-19 preventative measures. To win, either all the imposters are successfully identified and voted out or they eliminate all the crewmates before being identified. This provokes discussion, conversation, debate and some degree of bluffing, double bluffing and manipulation in order to achieve your objective, depending on what side you are on. The imposter at this point has to throw red herrings into the conversation and raise suspicions of the others to put players off the scent. After each elimination a meeting is called within the game where players are encouraged to discuss in real-time who they think is the imposter before voting who to remove from the game. You may find in your own classrooms and playgrounds organised games taking place at break times. So how could a game like this have a place in school when our instincts are primed to be on the defensive about gaming and its effects? It would appear that students prefer playing this game with friends over a local network, as a privately hosted game, as opposed to playing strangers over the net - it is very much a social game. Their role is to eliminate the other players without being detected, whilst the role of the crewmates is to correctly identify the imposters and to stay alive! I know what you are thinking, 'this sounds violent and inappropriate' Not at all, the game has an age rating of 9+, and as you can see from the still image of an 'elimination' above, the graphics and depection of the elimination are nothing more upsetting than you would see in an average Tom and Jerry cartoon. The computer randomly selects between 1-3 of the crewmates as 'imposters' before the game starts. Ten different coloured cartoon characters (known as crewmates) roam around a spaceship-themed setting. If you are unfamiliar with the game and its premise, the most simple explantion is to compare it to the old favourite parlour game, 'Wink Murder'. The colourful cartoon characters (featured in the headline picture) are already finding their way into every corner of social media, memes and merch. You may well have come across this phenomenon already in your own homes, classroom or playground. ![]() The latest game which has 'gone viral' is called 'Among Us'. Many schools have tried with varying degrees of success to ban Fortnite and its predecessors, but wherever you find a school with a progressive handheld device policy, you can be sure you will find students playing video games at school during breaks. ![]() These games all share a simple common factor: they successfully transfer to handheld device platforms making them perfect to consume in school therefore negating the need for a games console or desktop PC. Usually they are a source of annoyance, squabbles and disruption to those in education as their addictive nature entices young people to cross the boundary between acceptable and problematic usage time and time again. At some point over the last ten years or so your school will have been blighted by some (if not all) of these games which have all gone viral among students of senior school age around the world. Fortnite, Pokemon Go, Minecraft, Clash Royale, Angry Birds, Temple Run, the list could go on. ![]()
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