8 | feature / the standard / dec. 2020
who was the impostor? R
eleased by Innersloth in 2018, an old, yet new game has risen up the ranks in the gaming world, reaching people from social media and streaming services. Although video game developer, Innersloth, came out with the game two years ago, “Among Us” only recently became popular. Esports sponsor Neal Doolin said he heard about the game in March, during the start of lockdown. Doolin said he thinks the game became popular when a streamer on Twitch, a live video streaming service, found the game and started playing it. Many gamers use Twitch to watch and support their favorite streamers. “My understanding is that basically some really popular Twitch streamer found it, thought it looked fun, played it with some of his friends on stream to thousands or tens of thousands of viewers,” Doolin said. Senior Eric Faltermeier, Esports club leadership member, heard about the game around late summer through Twitch, as well as YouTube. He said streamers such as Sykkuno, Pokimane and Ludwig started playing the game which introduced “Among Us” to their viewers and fans. “All the mainstream streamers ... started playing it on stream,” Faltermeier said. “I just watched it and thought it’s a good time to play as well.” During their September meeting, the Esports club played “Among Us,” but Faltermeier has also found a way to play the game with his friends completely virtually. Faltermeier said he preferred playing on his
computer so he can talk to his friends at the same. “We have this thing called Discord,” Faltermeier said. “We all sit in there and we will just talk in there. Then every time we’re alive, we just mute our mics and deafen and when the meetings get called, we unmute and talk and see what happens.” Discord, a messaging platform where users can communicate using voice calls, is used by students like Faltermeier who often play video games with friends. Freshman Niki Ahmadian, who heard about the game from her brother, also plays other video games on Xbox but said that “Among Us” was easier to use because of how simple it is to play with friends. “It’s more easier and straightforward to give out a code, and all your friends can join it rather than like hoping to get us in.” Ahmadian said. “I usually play it when I’m with my friends.” “For Xbox, you have to, make sure everyone’s on at the same time. Hopefully, you get in the same game,” Ahmadian said. “But for ‘Among Us,’ I feel like it’s easier and [more] straightforward to give out a code, and all your friends can join it, rather than hoping to get us in.” Ahmadian said the goal of the game was to finish tasks on a ship before the impostor(s) kill everyone. Although players can’t choose to be Impostor or Crewmate, Ahmadian said she prefers being impostor, especially when playing with friends. “[I] definitely [like being] impostor more because if you’re playing with your friends and like you know
