Raghav Sharma Week #10 - Among Us and Language?

     Among Us, the most popular game in 2020. After school, all the friends getting on. 10 players, 1 imposter. I don't know if all of you guys played it, but in our friend group, that's the only game we played at that time, of course, excluding Fortnite. Frankly, one of the most memorable time where I saw the power of language was actually in an Among Us game. 


I was playing with a group of friends, and tensions were high as there were 4 players left, and one of them were the imposter. When the "body was found", we all joined the discord call to plead our case. Marcelo, who later, was found as the imposter, was able to use incredible persuasive language to shift the blame onto someone else. Celo was calm, logical, and used just the right tone to make his accusation sound convincing. While he was trying to blame one of our other teammates, other members were using loud voices, and they always say, the loudest ones can never be right, but in this situation, we were actually right. Even though I had my suspicions about Celo, his words were so powerful that the entire group voted to eject the guy Celo wanted to. 




https://www.gamesindustry.biz/conversation-as-the-crewmate-understanding-the-rise-of-among-us: here is an article that dives deeper into being the crewmate and the mind of the imposter. 

Then, I realized the influence of language in games. That Celo was able to dictate the perception of the group using just language which showed clear display of power. It was not an issue of the game or a question of who was better at doing tasks, but an issue of narrative control.  This made me think about how language may be used to dominate, persuade, or even manipulate, both in games and in real life. 

This experience also reminded me a lot of presidential debates, where language and power are constantly at play. In both Among Us and presidential debates, the goal is to persuade an audience.  Candidates, like players, use tone, volume, and very carefully chosen words to build trust, put other opponents down, and control the narrative. Sometimes, they interrupt or talk over each other to show dominance. Other times, they use calm language to appear more credible, just like Celo did. 

Whether it's presidential debates or among us, language always plays a big role in how the situation is looked at. One wrong word or phrase, and you can end up being the suspect. So, next time you in a debate or in a war in Among Us, try it out. You might just find the right words, spoken the right way, can change everything. 

Comments

  1. Harini KannanFebruary 2, 2025 at 12:43 PM

    Hi Raghav! In the best way possible, this is such an interesting and unique idea for a blog that I definitely couldn't have come up with. So, kudos to you! I never really thought about how language could have such an impact in a game like Among Us (even though I used to play a lot). The way you described your friend Marcelo's persuasive words and calm tone to get everyone to believe him was hilarious. It also made me realize the true power of language in controlling decisions and perceptions, whether in games or real life. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. Darshan DhadukFebruary 4, 2025 at 5:49 PM

    Hey Raghav! It’s so cool that you used an old game from covid to make it into your blog post. Your blog truly brings back covid memories, were after online school I would play among us for ours until I realized that I had homework left. When you said that your friend had used impressive persuasive language, I relate to this. This can also be used in the real world, were a simple sentence can completely change someones opinion on a subject because of the choice of words that we use. Tone and volume, like you said, can be major factors in how to persuade someone. A clever choice of words, can change someones perspective on a certain subject.

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  3. Hiba KathawalaFebruary 4, 2025 at 9:17 PM

    Hi Raghav! I really liked how you were able to connect an experience playing Among Us from 2020 to the much larger topic of how speech is used to dictate perception of an audience. I also liked how you compared the game to presidential debates and showed how no matter the setting, whether it be a video game with friends, or a national debate with millions of people watching, people can use the power of language to persuade and shift perspectives of the audience. The way you structured the blog, starting off by explaining your example with Among Us, and then shifting to a larger overview of the power of language in other aspects of life, helped strengthen your argument and made your blog very engaging. I appreciated the specific details you used, and your sentence variation as well! Overall, your blog was very insightful and fun to read, and I can’t wait to see what you post next!

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