18 - Among Us (a beginner's perspective)

 New here? Start with Episode 17 released today! 

I tried Among Us as a beginner, and it was… an experience.

In this episode, I explain the basics of the game and talk through my first impressions learning it from scratch. From confusion to finally understanding what’s going on, I also share whether I think it’s actually beginner-friendly.

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@Juke_ish (Instagram, Twitch, Tiktok)

Art by Arielle:  instagram @ProphetOPossum

Music: fesliyanstudios.com

Transcript

Juke: 0:08

Welcome travelers to getting gamers your guide to understanding the gamers in your life. I am your host juke and one thing you need to know about me is that I get the words for remote and controller mixed up all the time, and I'm going to blame the fact that I'm bilingual. So if you speak two or more languages, especially if you've been speaking them your whole life, like my parents speak both French and English, one parent speaks mostly French, one parent speaks mostly English. And so I've really been speaking both my entire life, and sometimes your brain just makes these associations between the languages that other people don't necessarily catch on to if they don't speak both languages and remote and controller, I think is one of them, because in French, you just say manette for for either The TV remote or your Xbox controller, they're just, so just in Manet, like, it's just, that's, it's the same word for both. And I think that's why my brain, I just say remote all the time. And I'm getting better at saying controller, because I've been corrected so much, and I'm good. I want to say the right words, especially considering I have a podcast on the topic, I don't want to be saying remote when I mean controller. But along the way, if you hear me say remote and you're and we're talking about controllers, or we're talking about gaming consoles, and I say remote instead of controller, just know that I mean controller. It's just a thing I do. I'm working on it. I've gotten a lot better, but it still happens. So let's get into today's topic, because you clicked on the episode because it said among us, and I wanted to get the among us episode out sooner than later, because I've been talking about it a lot. I mentioned it a lot in the previous episode, and it's the game I've been playing the most and the most regularly, and it's been a really cool new experience for me, because I've been playing regularly with a group of people. I played with people before, like when I was playing Hearthstone more regularly. But Hearthstone is like a one on one, or if you're doing, like, battlegrounds or whatever, but among us is really like, you have to be people and you, and ideally, the more people you are like, the more interesting the game gets, right? So it's been a really cool new experience in this whole, like gaming discovery adventure. I never really thought it would be my thing to play with people like once or twice a week, mostly because I had a lot of discomforts with discord. I think Discord is a great app. I just found it really intimidating, and there will be an episode about discord coming out in a few weeks, even though I didn't think it was going to be my thing to play like weekly with people. Turns out, I've been having a lot of fun, and I have learned a lot from this experience. So let's get into it. I know this game got really popular during the pandemic, but for those of you who didn't get into it like me during the pandemic, let me just quickly explain what among us is. So among us is a multiplayer game similar like if you play if you've played board games like werewolf or mafia or any like intruder type game. I call them intruder games, like a it's a game where there's like, one or two bad guys in the group of friends, or like, traders, imposters, whatever you want to call them, and the rest of the group kind of has to figure out by eliminating people who the bad guys are, and you win if you eliminated all the bad guys, and you lose if the bad guys got worse, successful at eliminating all the good guys. So in this video game, it's similar to that, but you're walking around like a spaceship or other types of maps, but it's commonly a spaceship, and you just complete tasks a lot of the like werewolf games or mafia games, like the board games of the of this type, the way they're going to work is going to be like, daytime is when people like argue about who they think the bad guy is, and nighttime is when The bad guys, like get to eliminate good guys, but in among us, you're like, on the spaceship, there's no like Daytime, nighttime. You're just roaming around the spaceship and you're trying to complete little tasks. And the bad guys are like, pretending ish to do their tasks, and like walking around and trying to kill people. And then when you find. Body, you report the body, and then that's when the debating happens. And the like, good guys, quote, unquote, good guys, let's say, start debating who might be the bad guy, what they saw, and like, who they saw while they were doing their tasks. And like, see if people are lying, or where they've been or who has been in that area recently, since there's been a body in that area, stuff like that. So it might sound complicated. Maybe I'm not the best at explaining games, but it really isn't that complicated, and I honestly think it's a great game for beginners. I know not necessarily everyone agrees. I've, I've said that statement in front of other people, and other people have kind of, like, given me a face of like, Are you sure? But yeah, I do. I think it's a great game for beginners. And I am going to explain for beginners. I think the main thing is that the fact that you're doing all these little tasks, it really practices some key things that are that I've learned are important to gaming, like navigating a map and the different controls for doing the different tasks. It makes you get used to, you know, completing tasks and doing various controls of like dragging and clicking and all the above. So I think it's just great practice. And as a beginner, when you start playing among us, you don't really have to focus on all the detective ings. Detective ing is not a word, detecting, investigating, investigating. So yeah, as a beginner, you don't really have to focus on all the investigating. You can leave that to the other people and just kind of focus on walking around the map. This like reading your map, finding your tasks. I have to stop hitting the mic. I'm sorry if you hear noises. I'm Italian. I speak with my hands and I keep hitting the mic. So yeah, like, as a beginner, don't focus on the investigating, just focus on walking around practicing, you know, like me, I gotta be honest, I get stuck in the doorways and the stuff, like little corners and stuff all the time. So I am a true beginner. And I think many people are, and I think among us is just great, like, there's no running. Everybody walks at the same pace in that in this game, there's no, like, control for running, so you're just walking around getting used to doing the task, the different controls. And it really helps work that part of your brain that you are going to need in many, many games, like using a map is really common and and that the the trickiness of getting around walls and stuff like that. I know it sounds crazy for people who game, but I get caught on things, and I just I don't move fluidly around obstacles in games, even in real life, to be honest, but especially in game. So I think this is just great practice. And another thing is that among us is super accessible. I have known people who have played on their cell phones. I play on my PC. I think it's on switch. I think there's just it's just accessible on many different consoles, and although I use a PC, I and I know this is going to make people rage. Anyways, people always like, why? What do you why do you do this? I love using a controller. When I play a game, it just feels more real to me. It just feels like I'm playing a game more if I'm using a controller, I'm not. I don't love using a keyboard and mouse. It just doesn't feel like I'm playing. It just feels like I'm using a computer. I don't know how to explain it. It's just I'm not a huge fan of it. So if a game can be played like even, even if it's normally a PC computer game. If it can be played on controller, I will prefer the controller. I know it's less precise. People have told me time and time again, but especially like a shooter game, how are you going to be playing a shooter without a trigger? At least with my controller, I have a trigger. I feel like I'm playing the game. I don't want to click to shoot I want to trigger. Anyways, we're not talking about a shooter game right now. Point is, I really love using a controller, and among us also allows for that, and I manage really totally fine with with my controller playing among us, and I am happy I'm not the fastest, but my goal in among us is not to be the fastest. And yeah, so like, if you're initiating a noob, and they like controllers because of the feel of it, and they and with the control, you can kind of lean back when you play with a computer mouse. You can't really do that. Anyways. Point is I just feel like, among. Is really accessible to a lot of different ways of playing, right? If someone's just a mobile gamer, then they can try on their phone. Then another reason, I think this is good for beginners, and it might be a little counter intuitive, but it's when you have to be imposter, because being an imposter is selected randomly in the game, and it is way more stressful, in my opinion, to be an imposter, especially as a beginner. And chances are you're going to be discovered early on, and that's okay, right? So if you're a solo imposter, then it really doesn't matter how quickly people discover you and vote you out. That just means your game as an imposter was not that long. It's not the end of the world. If you're doing like, duo or trio imposters, then, like, sometimes when an imposter, kind of like, reveals themselves a little early and is just like, Oh, whatever. Vote me out. Some people do make comments about the fact that, like, oh, well, you're kind of like ruining your fellow imposters game. So like, if you're being an imposter and you have a teammate as imposter, just try to stay under the radar. Don't sell yourself. If people discover you, they discover you. You're a beginner. People have to be understanding about that. But don't just sell yourself right away, just to give your your partner a chance to like, make headway until people actually do discover you, and it allows you also to just discover how long you can stay under the radar. I would say when you're an imposter, just stay humble and have fun with it and try different things out, explore. Don't get upset when people like discover you or whatever. It's just a game and you're learning. So have fun. The discord aspect is also something that I think can teach a lot to beginners, especially with among us. So if you have a group that you can play on Discord with, because I know people play online and they like vote in the chat, but if you have a group that you can be on Discord with and be like on audio. It's really interesting and teaches you a lot about gaming in general, because among us is an arguing game, like you're you're arguing and accusing people and and investigating, right? And so sometimes people will take being falsely accused badly, or the fact that people don't believe them, and stuff like that, it will, it will, like, upset them. And it can get heated sometimes. I mean, we all have our own definition of what getting heated means. But, you know, sometimes people are like, Are you dumb? Like, what I can't believe you don't understand. Or, you know, some people can get intense, and I think you don't have a lot of those, like arguments necessarily, when you're not in those types of situations, like when you're not putting your friendship in this types of situation where you have to argue. You don't necessarily, you're not necessarily used to like people talking to them, each other in that way, and then, and then you kind of, you realize, okay, like, this doesn't affect your friendship. This is fine. This is just, like, it's just different, like, there's, I'm not saying people. I'm not saying it's okay to insult people, whether you're in game or not. I'm just saying, I just think it's a it's you kind of learn about the culture. I don't know how else to say it, you know, it just teaches you things. I also think that playing games with people teaches you a lot about them, especially these types of games where you have to argue and defend yourself, and you know, like, when you're an imposter, you have to lie and, like, make people kind of manipulate and stuff like that. So it does, like, show you a different side of people like the side that you don't necessarily you know, you don't practice manipulating your friends otherwise, right? But it is interesting. I found it really interesting, like there's one person that we played with, and this is all like a group, like a lot of these people I had not met or met very few times before starting to play with them. So it was a lot of getting to know most of the people I play with through this game. And I remember when I first started playing with them, one of these guys, like, not that he had no mercy, because he was very nice and kind and teaching me the game. But when he was imposter, he was like, you know, doing these crazy mind tricks. And he wasn't being shy about the fact that, like, oh, there's this new person, right? And I was so, like, impressed, because I'm like, Oh, my God, he's like, an evil genius, but I had so much respect for it. I like, I wasn't, Oh, I hit the mic again. I wasn't scared of him. Kind of evil genius. I was kind of more in awe. I. Of like, I can't believe he thought about that and I can't believe he pulled it off. So, yeah, I just highly suggest it. If you have a group to play on Discord with, with among us, it's worth it, even if you're a beginner, as long as your friends are patient and kind, yeah, I think it teaches you a lot. There are also ways to make the game more beginner friendly. I know that the group I'm in, the group I'm in, was kind of like, headlined, I want to say, not headlined. That is not the word I'm looking for, but like spearheaded, the person that kind of like, took the lead in gathering people and who really wanted to play this game, really wanted to play the game and have as many people as possible. And so they made it, like welcoming, right, even to beginners. And so they kind of set in some extra things to make it more beginner friendly. For example, when we're in the arguing phase and we're talking about what we did during the turn, like, like, oh, we discovered a body. What did you do? What did you do to discover where everyone was? One of the rules that the group has set is that you can't, like, play on the tasks. So if someone says, like, Oh, I did this and I did that, blah, blah, you can't, like, start questioning people on the minute details of the task that they did, because as an imposter, you don't do tasks. And so you have to lie. And for beginners, lying about the tasks when you really don't know them that well, or where each tasks are, then it just, it just gets really, like, hard to be an imposter as a beginner when people are asking those types of questions. So we've been playing for months with that rule, and like, just this week, as I'm recording, I don't know when this is going to be released, but, like, it's been months and months and months of us playing with that rule, and now we're, like, starting to talk about, I think we've agreed on the fact that we're going to let people question the tasks now, because everybody seems to be, like, at a comfortable level with the game, you know? So I think it's like, if you're lucky, if you're a beginner, and the person introducing you to gaming has a group of friends that like plays and are, like, nice enough to consider stuff like that. I think that's cool, right? Like that helps, and it makes a really big difference in just feeling welcomed and not because, like, it's fun to, like, give beginners a chance a little bit, because it does motivate them to learn the game a little more. You would think, Oh, I'm giving them an easy way out. They won't learn the game. But no, like, if you're allowing them to, like, feel the fun parts of the game, like, oh, maybe they didn't win, but maybe they got in like, a few kills before they got discovered, or things like that. That really does help motivate in in continuing and learning more, right? So I do want to acknowledge that the friend that took charge of gathering people together to have a big group to play among us, together, everyone, etc, that person is like, super patient, and takes the time to help out the beginners and give tips. Kind of takes us under his wing for like, a game or two, because he wants to have a lot of people to play with, right? He cares about that and and the beginners in my group are lucky that we have like, people who want that and who like maintain that welcomingness to the group, and it makes a world of a difference for a beginner. So if you're trying to introduce someone into gaming, try to be that person. Don't be impatient when they have to start a task a few times over and over again. You can tease and like giggle with them, because the whole point is to have fun. And I think laughing when we're bad at something just makes it light hearted. But just, don't, you know, get annoyed or impatient. There's no point to that. Be the person that is just helpful to all the beginners so that the group stays welcoming. Because having a big group can be fun. I was talking about earlier, about how among us is a good game for beginners to develop certain like gameplay mechanics type things. Well, today is not my day for words, so I'm just going to talk about the things I think I have improved on ever since I started playing among us regularly with my friends. So using and following a map, you needed to find the tasks that you're doing. And I have to admit that in a lot, a lot, a lot of the games that I've played, because I'm always playing with someone else, I have just followed the person that I'm with. With and very rarely use the map. I just found that using the map was overwhelming. I would forget that the mini map was on the screen. I like, could only I only had enough focus to focus on my character on the screen, because I can lose my character sometimes. So, so, yeah, I think that, like the fact that I kind of had no choice but to use the map and among us, and it's not too complicated, it's not too overwhelming. There's like, very clear exclamation points telling me where I need to go. I can move around with the map open if I need to. And the map is like, a little bit see through, so you can kind of see what's going on with your character even though you have your map open, kind of that really, I think, I mean, I haven't really played that many games, like other than among us, but I feel like once I jump into another game that has map, or, like when I started playing Minecraft afterwards, I use maps a lot more now, and I'm more comfortable opening maps and being like, Okay, this is where I am. This is where I need to go. Blah, blah, blah. The fact that I'm among us, it is so simplified. It's really just like the hallways and the exclamation points. Yeah, for me, it has been really helpful, and I've noticed really big improvements for me on that then learning to remember where you've been. For the arguing stage, it's important for you to remember where you've been, and ideally, who you've seen. And when I first started playing, and I heard people saying, okay, so this round, I did this, and I went there, and then I did this, and then I went there and I did this, and I was like, Oh my God, what I'm supposed to what? And then people would ask me, okay, Juke, what did you do? And I'd be like, I'm in this room right now. I know, because when I open the map in the arguing phase, you can see the last room you you were in. So I can be like, I'm in this room right now, but I do not remember where I've been, and that was a little embarrassing. And now I've gotten a lot better at, like, keeping track and remembering where I've been. And I have to admit that, not just in gaming, but in everyday life, I'm the type of person like, especially when I lived in Montreal, I would park my car, let's say you find parking in a big city, right then you walk to the business you were going to, and then you do your shopping, and you leave. And even if I was in the store for like five minutes, I would walk out the store and I would not remember which way my car was, and I get like, I'm I'm probably still a little bit that way, but I would say that in my general life, learning to remember where I have been is a skill I needed to practice, and among us definitely practices that skill. I have no choice, I guess I have to remember. I have to remember who I've seen and argue about it. And I really do think that it is good for my brain, that I have been developing that skill. Then I already mentioned, like the the little tasks in the games. I think that they're like baby mobility gaming practices like, you know how babies have little toys that practice their mobility, that will then help them pick up a fork and feed themselves. I think among us kind of does that the little task like swiping the card, God, sometimes swiping that card takes so many tries, but it really does practice your your your your skills. It practices the little mobility of like, okay, I don't want to only go quickly all the time when I'm doing this motion, sometimes I want to, like, have it slow, steady movement. I don't know. I think it's practical, even though, like, the connecting the wires, it's just like connecting the dots. It's an it's it's practicing a skill, and it's like baby mobility. I don't know. I think it is super helpful for someone who's trying to learn just enough gaming to have fun with their gamer this I think that little tasks and everything really do help. And I think a final thing that it really helped me with is during the arguing stage of the game, you really get to learn about other people's gameplay, because you have to argue and talk about what you've done, what you've done, and where you've been, and who you've seen, and because you have to describe your whole like round every time, and you get to hear everyone else describe the round every time you're like, oh, okay, I didn't realize people did this more than that. Like, for example, for me, I thought the whole point of the game was doing the tasks. Because if you complete your tasks before the imposter kills everyone, then you win. Like, as a team, you win. So everybody has to complete their tasks for the good guys. To win or the good guys win by, you know, eliminating the imposters, but otherwise you win by completing the task. So for me, the whole point of the game was doing tasks. And then as we kept playing and talking and arguing and blah blah, I realized, Wait, some people do only investigating. Some people never do their tasks. And for me, I was like, it was mind blowing, because I was like, the whole point is to do tasks. No, like you tell me, I have to do tasks. I do the task like, what now you're telling me I don't have to do the tasks. Like some people. They just spend time like, looking at the security cameras, looking at the admin place, where you see where people are, looking at the vitals to see if anyone's died walking around to see if there's any bodies anywhere, like they just do that the whole time. And that was, to me, mind blowing. But then I realized, oh, okay, I could be doing more investigating and and not focusing on my tasks so much. You know, they're not the end all be all of the round. I can explore different things to do during my round, and I wouldn't have come to that conclusion, I think, without hearing other people's perspective and how they played. Because what would happen is that when the people who like did mostly investigating and no tasks, if when they died, and then it was just the rest of us kind of having to figure out who the imposter was. We were really stumped. I was really stumped. Anyways, so, yeah, I really like it motivated me to do more investigating, which at first I was not super interested in. For example, I used to never, never check the admin screen. The admin screen is like, you get to see the map, and little like dots saying people are there, but not it doesn't tell you which person is there. It just tells you that there are people and how many people in each room. And I never would check that. And then I realized that people would check it as imposters. They would check to see where people are to then decide where to go kill people, right? And I was like, oh, I should do that. But then I realized, if I only ever check that screen when I'm an imposter, people are going to catch on, because they all get the cat. We catch on to each other's patterns, right? If you're playing with each other once or twice a week, there's patterns you catch on to them, right? So then I realized, okay, I have to get used to just going to the admin screen and using it all the time. And now, you know what? I pass by all the time because I'm like, it is valuable information. But before, at first, checking that screen was just intimidating to me, because if someone saw me check that screen, then they're gonna be like, okay, Millie, what did it say? There? Like, are people saying the truth? And I could not, for the life of me, ever remember what I saw on that screen. So I also I had to just start remembering, like, Okay, I have to check that screen and stare at it and and and remember that I'm seeing two dots in this room, and then, and then, now it's only one dot, and now there's a.in that room. And that was a little overwhelming for me at first, and now I'm noticing that I'm getting used to it, and it's fun. It's motivating. When you're like, Oh, I really didn't like this, and I was overwhelmed and I couldn't do it. And now I'm doing it, and I'm getting better at it, and I can tell that I'm getting better every time. That's a fun feeling, right? So yeah, for so many reasons, I really, highly suggest to give it a try. Now, one thing I will talk just a little bit more about when it comes to this game is the fact that it's based about on accusing people, and people will react differently to being accused, right? So when I get accused, and I know I'm innocent, but I can see in the game most of the time. Anyways, I can see that in game when I'm telling people what my position is and stuff like that, that it is suspicious. And so for me, I have, I just have a lot of understanding. I'm like, okay, look, I I know I'm suspicious. And you, if you want to vote me out, vote me out like I'm telling you, it's not me, and I'm trying to be as sincere as possible, but I know that, like, my positioning is really suspicious. I don't know how to convince you that it's not me. And then sometimes I will be like, but like, this person did see me do this, and this person did see me do this, and I have been doing this and this and this, and try to show them that I am a crewmate, like I'm innocent, but I'm not mad about it, but I do notice that people do get upset at being accused. And I'm lucky, I have a really great group of friends to play with, but even in my group, people can get a little, like, condescending. Sometimes there are little comments and I'm like, oh, okay, that was a little rough. You know, I'm realistic that you may be surrounded with people who game differently than the people I'm surrounded with. And I have known people in my life, in my past. You know, we all know some people who can get pretty intense when i. When they play games, and I can only imagine that those people playing a game like among us, it can get rough. I just want to make sure that you understand that no game is worth playing with someone who makes you feel bad. If someone's getting nasty while you play, you don't have to continue playing with them. And I think that's important to say, and I will repeat it, probably with many other games. I think different games come with different communities. And so if you're a gamer, introducing someone to gaming, it's important that if you introduce them to a group of friends to game with, that you're realistic about the people you introduce them to you know which one of your friends are less beginner friendly? Which one of your friends can get a little nasty during games, especially when they lose, and those are maybe friends you don't, you know, send your noob to play with right away, at least not for a while. So I would say noobs trust your gamers. Gamers Be realistic about which friends you introduce your noobs to. Now I am just a little tiny little podcast. So of course, rating and reviewing and subscribing are super helpful, and I do hope someday to have whether they called, sponsors, commercials, whatever you you know, someday, I do hope to monetize this podcast, but for now, I thought I could practice and send some love to some companies that I care a lot about and I think need some extra love. So if you're in the Montreal area, there is a little coffee shop called La station cafe. La station cafe, if you're reading in English, it's at 104 elm Avenue in Beaconsfield. It's in the Beaconsfield train station. So if you're just in a mood for a little coffee in a little train station, it's it's cute, it's quaint. It's run by some wonderful people, and I think they deserve so much love. You can find them on Facebook, under last station cafe, or on Instagram. Their Instagram is La dot station dot cafe. I will have it all linked in the episode description, last station Cafe makes their own in house, homemade oat milk. They even have toasted oat milk. They make all their pastries and their milks, and it's just a really great place. And I really love the people who work there. So if ever you want to check it out, if you're in Montreal, you can go to the Beaconsfield train station, la station cafe, check it out in the description, go. Send them some love, and until next time, GG our podcast art was made by the wonderful Arielle, who can be found on Instagram at profit opossum, and our intro and outro music was made by David theslian from thespian studio.com

Unknown: 33:25

the job's done.