Gaurav Rathore
His write-ups blend creativity, personal experience, and tailored technical advice, meeting reader needs effectively.
This write-up is about an online multiplayer game in which you have to point out the imposters in a spaceship.
Unless you’re living under a rock, you must have guessed that I’m talking about Among Us. Despite the game’s popularity, there’s still concern about whether it is safe for kids or not.
According to a survey, 59% of teens have played Among Us and a huge proportion of them have admitted to the fact that they encountered foul language.
So, if you’re a concerned parent, I’ll share all the required information on Among Us to help you decide if you should allow your kids to play it or not. Read on!
Who’s willing to teach me how to play among us (mobile) pic.twitter.com/QNRhsl2WGr
— tawfiq (@Alhaj_ji) October 18, 2023
Among Us is an exceptionally popular multiplayer online game set in a space-themed environment with the likes of Murder in the Dark and Werewolf.
Launched in 2018, the game is developed by InnerSloth and revolves around a story in which a few players work together to fix a crumbling spaceship and perform tasks.
One or two are imposters between them, and the game concludes when a meeting is called and players guess who the imposter is among them.
The popularity of the game skyrocketed during the pandemic, and it itself popularized the slang “sus.”
When the game starts, you are assigned a role; it could be a crewmate or imposter. If you’re playing the role of a crewmate, you just have to fix the issues with the spaceship and call meetings to point out the imposter.
On the other hand, if you’re an imposter, you have to sabotage their missions and kill the crewmates one by one until the number of crewmates equals the number of imposters.
Among Us like other games, it is surely fun, but as a parent, it is your responsibility to ensure that it is 100% safe for the kids. Worry not, I’ll mention a few things worth your consideration to help you understand if the game is safe for your kids or not.
When using the free version, Among Us will display ads and it will collect your data. With the data collected, you’ll see personalized ads based on your internet activity and demographics. Moreover, the game will show this disclaimer:
For those wondering whether the game is for children or not, Among Us will confirm your age. If you’re not 18 yet, you’ll need to use pre-generated chat phrases during Emergency Meetings. This prevents kids from using or encountering mature language in chat.
Like any other multiplayer online game, Among Us enables players from any part of the world to participate. Hence, it increases the chances of stranger interaction within the game.
From the previous section, it is obvious to be “sus” about the gameplay and whether it could be a threat to young minds or not. According to me, the game has the following threatening elements that I believe parents should be aware of:
The action shown in Among Us could be violent to some extent. It is not that gross, as everything is pretty animated, but the little avatars are killed either by repeated stabbing, neck twisting, burning, stabbed through the eye, or shot.
These animated killing representations are only visible to the imposters, but the other players can stumble upon the dead bodies. To help you understand, I’ve shared some snaps from the game.
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Among Us provides the option to chat, where players can make accusations, defend themselves, report suspicion, and try to sway the vote.
Take note that where young people gather online, predators follow. Hence, children are at risk of being groomed by strangers. Moreover, playing in a team opens up the possibility of building up trust and friendships among teammates. Predators posing as children often seek this opportunity and plan grooming for their own benefit.
While chatting, kids can encounter explicit messages from strangers. This includes abusive language, dirty jokes, and sexual innuendos. Apart from the messages, it’s common to see several usernames portraying solicitation for a sexual act.
A case came forward recently in which a 14-year-old girl received child abuse video links and explicit messages on chat. Read more on The Sun.
Among Us doesn’t allow posting working links in chat, it is still possible to share web addresses (URLs). Notorious users often mislead kids to open these links that open offensive sites. Also, hackers can use this technique to send random URLs for data theft.
After reading about all these risks and dreadful activities on Among Us, you must be scratching your head wondering if you can count them in safe kids games or not.
According to ESRB, the game is rated 10+, meaning, it is 100% unsafe for kids below 10 years of age. However, I feel like the game can have inappropriate elements for kids belonging to all age groups.
Hence, the only solution I can recommend is to have a decent conversation with the kids before you allow them to play Among Us. So that, they can become aware of the risks and learn to evade dangers as soon as they can.
Now, as I’m already discussing kids’ safety on Among Us, it is obvious to think about whether it has parental controls or not.
Yes, the game does have parental controls, but they are only valid for kids under 13 years of age. When creating an account, it is mandatory to enter your age. So, kids below 13 have to seek parental permission to play the game. The game sends an email through which parents will approve permission to play it.
However, it is pretty easy to bypass the restrictions, as someone can simply lie about their age and proceed further.
Among Us has captured the hearts of many, but it also comes with risks like data collection, inappropriate chat, predator encounters, and more. While the game is rated 10+ by ESRB, you should make a wise decision first, and allow your kids to play it only if they’re eligible for it.
Moreover, it doesn’t have any parental controls, so as a parent, you must have a serious word about the risks involved and how kids can stay safe while enjoying Among Us with their friends.
The crewmates have to complete all the tasks or eliminate the imposters by guessing to win the game. On the other hand, the imposters have to kill the crewmates until they win.
Yes, there is no harm to kids, as it is a pretty social and engaging game. However, it is rated by ESRB as 10+, meaning it is not safe for kids under 10 years old.
Among Us is a cross-platform game that can be played on PCs, gaming consoles, and mobile phones.
