Among Us works because it's a board game in disguise
Among Us works because it's a board game in disguise
Among Us works because it's a board game in disguise
By Jeremy Peel
October 30, 2020
Summary
There are three places where you can expect to be shushed by strangers: in a public library, on a quiet train carriage, and during a game of Among Us. All three share a social contract, a communal understanding that this will work better for all of us if we shut up.
It's not an unprecedented premise-station survival sims like Space Station 13 and Barotrauma have long given players secret missions to kill each other, and the imposter role is common to board games.
Not in the Skynet sense, but something subtler-a slow and pervasive rewriting of our relationship with game rules.
Since the rules are determined by players, they can be reinterpreted to keep the game fresh.
D&D, the game at the very root of PC gaming, has a long and proud history of house rules as well.
Hilariously, it demanded you refer to a wilderness skills board game named Outdoor Survival, which belonged to Avalon Hill, not D&D publisher TSR. As such, players without access to Gary Gygax's gaming cupboard simply filled in the missing pages with their own rules.
That's a recipe for frustration: when the rules in a PC game feel stupid, there's usually little to do but bang your head against them or vent on Reddit.
That's OK: since the rules are determined by players, they can be reinterpreted to keep the game fresh.
Streamer Ludwig Ahgren has begun playing the game in 'Colour Mode'-an ingenious modification in which every player is named after a colour that doesn't match their avatar, leading to brain gymnastics and misidentification during emergency meetings.
Gary Gygax ultimately folded common house rules from early D&D into the official game with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
Reference
Peel, J. (2020, October 30). Among Us works because it's a board game in disguise. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from https://www.pcgamer.com/among-us-works-because-its-a-board-game-in-disguise/