Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Among Us: Is it Safe, or Suss?
96 Plays1 month ago
If you don't know what being 'suss' is, then this is the episode for you! Among Us was THE hit of Lockdown, and continues to be popular with children to this day, but what do you need to know about it as a parent?
Andrew, a father of two and lifelong gamer, teams up with Brandon, a consumer psychologist and ex-pro video game coach, to cover video games, the way they are designed and how these design decisions impact the children that play them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Among_Us
https://www.innersloth.com/games/among-us/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Focus
00:00:08
Andrew Wilmot
Good morning, good day, good evening. Whenever you are, or welcome to the Dopamine Slot Machine, the podcast that discusses what you need to know about the video games that your children are playing. How are they designed to get your kids hooked?
00:00:19
Andrew Wilmot
How do they make money from your children? And what can you do to make sure that your child's relationship for video games is a positive one? My name is Andrew. I'm a dad of two and a lifelong gamer. And it is just me tonight.
00:00:31
Andrew Wilmot
Brandon is out traveling with work at the moment, but we've had this episode requested a few times.
Understanding Among Us
00:00:37
Andrew Wilmot
So before he headed off, we booted up Among Us for the first time in literally half a decade and played a few rounds.
00:00:44
Andrew Wilmot
So for those who don't know, Among Us is a murder mystery game that absolutely exploded in popularity during lockdown. To this day, the character design is still absolutely iconic, and I can almost guarantee that if you showed your child the character silhouette, even if they have never played the game, they would recognise where it is from.
00:01:06
Andrew Wilmot
Even the name of this episode, Safe or Sus, is a reference to lingo that came ah from the game, with sus referring to somebody who is acting suspicious like an imposter.
00:01:17
Andrew Wilmot
We'll come to what an imposter is in just a second. So how it works is a lobby of four to 15 real people. I think you can play with bots, but normally will be real people is formed.
00:01:30
Andrew Wilmot
And those players are then put on a spaceship that requires fixing. They have a list of tasks, which include fixing the wiring, ah cleaning vents or emptying garbage.
00:01:42
Andrew Wilmot
And this list of tasks has to be completed before the ship is fixed and the crewmates can escape from wherever they're they're at.
Violence Concerns in Gaming
00:01:50
Andrew Wilmot
However, of those 4-15 real people, up to three of them will be randomly assigned as impostors who are trying to sabotage the ship, preventing the crewmates from escaping.
00:02:01
Andrew Wilmot
They will also be trying to kill their crewmates without being seen. As well as this, at any point the crewmates can call a vote to eject someone from the spaceship, killing them. um If you've watched The Thing, then imagine that but cartoony.
00:02:19
Andrew Wilmot
And you know what? It's a pretty fun game. I played it during lockdown and I enjoyed playing it again with Brandon. As I mentioned, it blew up during COVID after getting attention from streamers and YouTubers, but unlike a lot of the games we talk about, was actually made by a very small ah independent studio.
00:02:36
Andrew Wilmot
Now, when I mentioned the thing, that's probably when for a few of you, alarm bells rang. Now, look, we all have different levels of sensitivity regarding depictions of violence.
00:02:47
Andrew Wilmot
And whilst ah there is cartoony gore in this, it is still gore, right? Only you know your child's sensitivity to violence and gore.
Game Economy and Comparisons
00:02:56
Andrew Wilmot
But I will say that following the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, NBC broke the news that Luigi Mangione, who was arrested and charged with the murder, I quote here, once belonged to a group of Ivy League gamers who played assassins.
00:03:14
Andrew Wilmot
Blaming that assassination among us is probably a little bit of a stretch. But if your child does play this, then go check out the death animations. Go go have a play, go watch, see if you have any concerns yourself.
00:03:28
Andrew Wilmot
For me, the first thing that actually stands out from a concern point of view is the microtransactions. So like with a lot of games, lot of online games, you can customize what your character looks like. You can wear silly hats, you can put on other items of clothing.
00:03:42
Andrew Wilmot
Like with a lot of games, a lot of that customisation is locked behind paying for items. Like the very worst games we talk about, they use an obfuscated currency that makes it harder to really appraise the value of what you're paying for.
00:03:59
Andrew Wilmot
Now, I'm not going to go into all the reasons why an obfuscated currency is bad for children. If you've been listening, then that's something that we've covered on the Roblox episode, the Fortnite episode, and the Minecraft episode.
00:04:11
Andrew Wilmot
But the gist of it is by separating the purchase from that, being able to cognitively process the actual value of that purchase, you know, that's something that adults struggle with. that There's a reason you will play poker with chips as opposed to stacks of cash.
00:04:29
Andrew Wilmot
But unlike a lot of games that do this, it's not very in your face about it, at least on the PC version. It might be different on my bar. For me, paying for cosmetics is a red line.
00:04:41
Andrew Wilmot
The moment you start assigning monetary value on digital appearances, you start placing more value in that digital space than you should. But unlike most games with microtransactions, this is tucked away. Although when I logged in, i was presented with a, hey, you've got a freebie from from the team.
00:04:59
Andrew Wilmot
there was There are so many customization options that do not require you spending a penny and The ones that do require spending money are quite clearly indicated.
00:05:11
Andrew Wilmot
it's As I mentioned, it's locked behind a separate screen. You're not logging in and then immediately having it advertised in your face the way that games on Roblox do, the way Fortnite does, and even the way Minecraft does.
Social Benefits and Playtime Warnings
00:05:26
Andrew Wilmot
There is also the reward loop. So it's quite quick to join a game, and a game doesn't last very long. And I do like but there's ah There's a number of pauses, both during and before and after a game. So I mentioned with the votes, right, ah those will take some time to take place. There's a time before the vote to chat, then a time during the vote as players vote who to throw out of the airlock.
00:05:57
Andrew Wilmot
And then there's bit of time afterwards. Additionally, the game sort of stops every time a body is found. And there are pauses before and after the game. So whilst you're waiting for a lobby, transitioning between games. And compared to Fortnite, for instance, this is a positively relaxed experience.
00:06:19
Andrew Wilmot
But compared longer form narrative based games, or the types that we are more positive about on this channel, it is still pretty intense. So let's call this what it is, right?
00:06:32
Andrew Wilmot
It's junk food. It's not going to enrich your child's life like some games out there can. Thinking about Zelda, thinking about Minecraft or Pokemon to some degree, or games that you ah play together with your child could.
00:06:47
Andrew Wilmot
But I don't think it's actively poisonous the way Roblox or Fortnite is. And just like how you shouldn't be eating junk food every day, but there's nothing wrong with having a few mates over with some snacks, there's probably a time and place for games like Among Us.
Managing Gameplay with Communication
00:07:02
Andrew Wilmot
As a social activity, so playing with friends, done on occasion, preferably with those friends being in person, I think it's fine. Where I would worry is if they were wanting to play every day, when it goes from a fun party activity to a primary source of entertainment, where might be wanting to spend hours on it whilst neglecting other forms of entertainment and play.
00:07:28
Andrew Wilmot
potentially if it's interfering with their schoolwork or they're struggling with emotional regulation whilst playing or even after playing. For me, I think back to my own days as a kid, renting Halo from the video shop, ordering some pizzas and staying up too late playing with my mates.
00:07:50
Andrew Wilmot
Maybe this is the modern equivalent. I really think for most parents who do listen to this channel, it's going to be if if they were to sit down and play it, it's going to be the actual content itself that will worry them the most.
00:08:04
Andrew Wilmot
The quite graphic, cartoony murder scenes, similar to ah cartoon version of The Thing.
00:08:13
Andrew Wilmot
The other elements to this, again, if if my child was really obsessed with this game, would give me cause for concern.
00:08:25
Andrew Wilmot
but But you know what, compared to some of the other games that I speak to parents about, I'm not hearing this come up so often in the context of we've had to remove it because of X, Y, Z reasons, or oh they accidentally spent huge amounts of money on it, or or they want you know they they only want to spend money their pocket money on in-game cosmetics.
00:08:50
Andrew Wilmot
I just don't think it's got that same level of Harm potential. Now, all games, particularly with young children, will still need to be regulated and monitored.
00:09:03
Andrew Wilmot
And as I said, if my daughter was wanting to come home every single day after school and go sit and play among us with strangers, There is a chat function, by the way.
00:09:15
Andrew Wilmot
should have mentioned that at the start. There is a global chat function. That said, ah to access that free chat, you do need to sign in and make an account, and there are parental controls.
00:09:27
Andrew Wilmot
We're always a little bit sceptical about parental controls on this channel. The only really effective parental control, in our view, is an honest and open line of communication with your child, because...
00:09:41
Andrew Wilmot
If your child wants to get around parental controls, they'll find a way. You can't rely on technology. like I was breaking ah parental controls 15 years ago.
00:09:52
Andrew Wilmot
15 years ago? More like 20 years ago, be honest. I was breaking parental controls as a 10-year-old with ah what my parents thought was restricted internet access. And...
00:10:03
Andrew Wilmot
That was without having a peer network who ah view it as their fundamental right to break those parental controls.
00:10:13
Andrew Wilmot
So if your child is playing Among Us, I wouldn't worry too much. If your child's playing Among Us four hours a day, there is not enough in that game to be enriching for that time, and then then you've got a problem.
Preview of Next Episode on EdTech
00:10:29
Andrew Wilmot
so On a completely different topic, I have a question this week about EdTech, which is fantastically timed because that's actually our next episode. So Anna from Exeter asks, if have you heard of Times Table Rockstars?
00:10:43
Andrew Wilmot
Our son has to use it for school, but I worry that it has some of the same design issues you talk about in your Roblox and Fortnite episodes. In short, yes, I have heard of it. My daughter's school uses it and I share those same concerns.
00:10:57
Andrew Wilmot
I actually did my bachelor's project building an edtech platform for 11 plus tuition. And I've been working as a little side project on building an addictive design free edtech program at home.
00:11:09
Andrew Wilmot
I doubt that'll see the light of day. as mentioned, it's just a fun side project stretching those coding muscles. ah This isn't going to be a plug to go buy my software. um But we do need a conversation on the appropriateness of gamification, which is just a nice word for leveraging addictive design to maximise engagement in edtech.
00:11:34
Andrew Wilmot
I've seen a lot of chat about edtech in the smartphone-free childhood groups I'm in, and the concerns as to the long-term impact of relying on effectively cultivating habit-forming behaviours as the primary mechanism by which you get your child to study and learn And I'm really looking forward to diving into this with Brandon next.
00:11:58
Andrew Wilmot
So don't forget that if you've got some questions for us, or if you or your children have been impacted by the issues we've discussed today, that you can get in touch with us on our website, the dopamineslopmachine.co.uk, or find us on the Dopamine Slop Machine Discussion Corner Facebook group.
00:12:13
Andrew Wilmot
All links can be found in our artist profile, and we would love to hear from you. That's all we have time for today. Thank you so much for joining us. We'd love to have you here with us again in our next episode where we're going to be covering edtech.
00:12:26
Andrew Wilmot
Your child almost certainly has to use platforms that are addictive by design for school and home run. But what are the long-term impacts of this? This has been the Dopamine Slot Machine.
00:12:37
Andrew Wilmot
Thank you and see you soon.