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Megan Murphy

Dr. Steffen Guenzel

ENC 1102

11/5/2020

Final Draft

“Among Us: The Ultimate Party Game of the Paranoid Covid Era” – Rhetorical Analysis

The topic of the research project is how video games help people stay connected during

Covid-19. This research paper is split into three parts: social media and video game companies'

responses, different games and their game mechanics, and the social and communication aspect

of video games. Many of the articles that I had considered would explain current (during Covid-

19) popular multiplayer games and explain why they might be popular now, taking into

consideration the aspects of the game that support communication and teamwork.

The article I choose introduces a game that was popular during the quarantine and

explains why it is the perfect game for quarantine. The article is published by “The Guardian”,

which is a British newspaper. And the article was written by Keith Stuart. As stated on his

company profile page, “he is an author and journalist; he writes about video games, technology

and digital culture”, (The Guardian). The latest articles that he has written are about the new

Xbox (Xbox Series X and S) and the new PlayStation (PS5). He has also written about other

popular games during the quarantine like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Fall Guys, Microsoft

Flight Simulator, and others.

  The online article called “Among Us: the ultimate party game of the Covid era”. Among

Us is a recently popular online multiplayer video game. Even though it was released in 2018,
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now two years after its release, it has recently gained popularity. The game has become so

popular that according to the article it “attracted more than 85m players in the last six months”

(The Guardian). The concept of the game is “there are 10 crew members trapped on a spacecraft,

carrying out menial tasks to maintain vital systems, but at least one of them is an imposter who

wants to sabotage their work and if possible, murder them” (The Guardian). This game relies

heavily on communication. Innocent crew members need to be able to convince the other players

that they are innocent, by providing an alibi (another person or cameras) or blaming another

person. The crew members can win the game by voting out the imposter, the problem is that they

both need to figure out who the imposter is and get the majority of the players to vote out the

believed imposter. The imposter needs to be able to convince the others that they are innocent

which could be done in several ways, like blame someone else or lying about their location and

who they saw going where. And to win the game the imposters need to convince the other

players that they are innocent until they get rid of the crew members.

The author implies that while games like Fortnite and Animal Crossing (which were

games that were extremely popular in the beginning of the quarantine) were popular, they were

not games that were ‘perfect’ for quarantine. I think that the author implies that games like

Fortnite and Animal Crossing probably would have been popular regardless of if the quarantine

happened or not (because Fortnite was already a popular game and animal crossing was a long

awaited Nintendo game). But Among Us was popular (during the quarantine) for a different

reason then Fortnite and Animal Crossing. The tone of Among Us is darker than the other two

games, and according to the writer that is the appeal of the game, “after months of this horror

(the coronavirus crisis), and with patience fraying, we’re ready for something more cynical and

spiteful” (The Guardian). The author uses logos to try reasoning that because the current
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situation is bleak people will be drawn to sources that can provide an outlet for negative

emotions. The reader is left to draw the conclusion that with since Among Us has darker tone

and can be an outlet for negative emotions (like lying and creating drama) it is the perfect game

for quarantine.

An interesting theory for Among Us’ popularity and a possible for reason why it is the

best game for quarantine is that the game can reflect the current (2020) situation. The author

defends this theory and the reasoning by describing the similarities of the game and current

(2020) situation by describing how “its emphasis on fabrication, on blame-shifting, and on

reporting other people to the authorities is extremely on point”. The author tries to appeal to

pathos and emotions by drawing on similarities of the current situation and the game Among Us

to defend his theory. The author also tries to defend his theory by directly quoting a Vice article.

The author of the Vice article, Sean Sands, discusses the same topic, and states that “Among Us

is rife with ever-cascading crises, and people trapped in a sense of isolation while they try to

solve problems for which they are woefully unequipped. Into this crumbling world the game

introduces a dash of bad-faith actors whose purpose – as much as open violence – is to sow

distrust and distraction” (Vice). The author uses another article that supports his theory to defend

the theory by showing that he is not the only one who believes in the theory.

The author states another reason why Among Us became so popular, it is due to the fact

that Among Us is the ‘perfect game for quarantine’. Among Us was released in 2018 but was not

popular, but the quarantine provided a situation where people would look for a game with a lot of

social interaction and drama like Among Us. This game provides a source of entertaining drama

where you can watch or you yourself create the drama. This game relies on creating alibis and

lying to convince people of your innocence or another’s guilt, part of this game can be figuring
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out who to trust when you know that anyone or everyone is lying to ‘survive’. The best part of

this arrangement is that all the lying and drama is in a low risk situation, where when the game is

over you can walk away with your friendships intact. The author uses this reasoning to convince

the reader that the game is fun and entertaining, making the reader understand why the game is

popular especially during quarantine.

The author uses many different ways to convince the readers that Among Us is the

perfect game for quarantine. Another way the author tries to convince the audience of his claim

is repetition. This is when a writer repeats a claim (or what they are trying to convince the

reader) many times, only changing some words but the main idea stays the same. While this is a

method that many writers (or people in general) use, it is not the most effective form of

argument. The author uses repetition many times (whether unconsciously or not) to enforce his

claim, he uses words like “most popular”, “ultimate”, and “perfect” to reinforce a positive

outlook on the game. The author also appeals to pathos when using these words and some of the

descriptions of the game. The author draws on the emotions of the reader by describing exciting

and fun situations in the game and reasoning that these situations make the game popular.

Since the article is about the author’s opinion of a game the article is very biased. The

fact that the author really likes the game Among Us will influence his claim that Among Us is

the best game to play during quarantine. He may also be biased because he likes video games in

general, which could have influenced his opinion of the game in a positive manner. The author

may also be biased because of the fact that his job is to write about video games.

The author’s purpose, like the title of the article suggests, is to support the claim that

Among Us is the best or “ultimate” party game during Covid-19. And to support the author’s
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original claim, the author provides many reasons, like how after months of being in quarantine

people no longer want “brighter, cuter video games such as Fortnite and animal crossing” (The

Guardian), but now they want to play “something more cynical and spiteful” (The Guardian).

The author’s intended audience is people interested in the game Among Us.

This article has helped me gain a basic understanding of the game Among Us and reasons

why it became popular. The article has also provided a link to another article on the same topic

(with another interesting opinion) and has shown me how this author uses other sources (the

Vice article written by Sean Sands) to support his claim. I will use this article in my research

paper as an example of a game that requires social interaction (and rewards people who know

how to effectively communicate) and how that is one of the main reasons of its popularity.
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Works Cited

Sands, Sean. “'Among Us' Is Not Just the Game of 2020, It's '2020: The Game.'” Vice, 23
September 2020, https://www.vice.com/en/article/ep43yz/among-us-is-not-just-the-game-of-
2020-its-2020-the-game. Accessed 30 October 2020.
 

Stuart, Keith. “Among Us: the ultimate party game of the paranoid Covid era.” The Guardian,
29 September 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/sep/29/among-us-the-ultimate-
party-game-of-the-covid-era#top. Accessed 12 October 2020.

The Guardian. “Keith Stuart Profile and Articles.” Keith Stuart, 2020,
https://www.theguardian.com/profile/keithstuart. Accessed 29 October 2020.