Is Among Us Appropriate for Your Kids?

Among Us is rated E10+ for Everyone 10+, with Content Descriptors that include Fantasy Violence and Mild Blood. It also has Interactive Elements that include “Users Interact,” meaning players are able to chat with one another, and “In-Game Purchases,” which lets parents know the game offers the ability to make additional purchases using real-world currency.

ESRB’s Rating Summary provides more detail, stating that “players can attack other characters by using various weapons (e.g., knives, pistols, spikes); brief animations depict characters eliminating each other (e.g., getting impaled, stabbed, shot), leaving behind a cartoony corpse for others to discover.”

While the action is very cartoony and lighthearted, some parents may want to look up gameplay videos to make sure it’s appropriate for their kids.

Where Can I Play Among Us and How Much Does it Cost?

Among Us is available to download on just about every platform you can think of with varying prices, including:

• Windows PC – $4.99
• PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 – $4.99
• Nintendo Switch – $5.00
• Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S – $4.99
• Android – Free-to-play
• iOS – Free-to-play

There are also several physical (e.g., boxed) versions of Among Us available to purchase at your retailer of choice, such as Among Us – Crewmate Edition or Among Us – Ejected Edition. These versions typically include in-game and (sometimes) physical extras in addition to the game disk. As such, price varies, starting at $29.99 for the Crewmate Edition, $49.99 for the Imposter Edition, and $89.99 for the Ejected Edition.

As mentioned, all versions include the ability to purchase in-game currency using real-world money, which can in turn be used to exchange for bundles of in-game cosmetics. The in-game currency, known as Stars, can be purchased for:

• 20 Stars – $1.99
• 30 Stars – $2.99
• 40 Stars – $4.99
• 110 Stars – $9.99
• 300 Stars – $24.99

As mentioned, these can be used to exchange for bundles of cosmetic items, which are strictly visual, and only customize the appearance of your Crewmate. These include accessories like hats, clothing (called “skins”), pets, visors, and more.

Alternatively, Crewmates can earn the Beans – the free in-game currency – through regular gameplay. Beans can be exchanged for individual cosmetic items as you play, meaning all purchases are strictly optional and do not impact the gameplay in any way. Note that you have to complete a match to earn Beans.

Both Beans and stars can also be used to exchange for “Cosmicubes.” According to Among Us developer, InnerSloth, Cosmicubes are “special items that have themed cosmetics you unlock via a branching path.” By activating a Cosmicube your player can earn a third kind of currency called pods, which can be used to unlock specific, themed cosmetics within that branching Cosmicube.

Make sure you visit ParentalTools.org for our step-by-step parental controls guides that can help you restrict (or block!) spending on your kids’ game devices.

How Does Among Us Play?

Among Us is an online, multiplayer whodunnit game that casts the players in one of two roles: The Crewmates (good guys!), or the Imposters (bad guys!). Crewmates are given specific jobs or tasks to complete, which change depending on the map. Meanwhile, Imposters are aliens that pose as Crewmates while sabotaging the environment and killing the real Crewmates.

For example, the original Among Us map took place on a spaceship in need of maintenance. Some Crewmates may be tasked with fixing wires, cleaning vents, clearing asteroids, and more, all with the goal of keeping the ship running smoothly. Imposters can sabotage these jobs and/or kill Crewmates to slow down the process.

Should the body of a Crewmate be found (which it will!), players can report it to start an emergency meeting. This meeting brings all players together to go over evidence, discuss who may be the culprit, and vote to eject someone.

The game ends when either all of the Imposters are ejected or there are as many Imposters as there are real Crewmates.

There’s a surprising amount of depth to Among Us, especially when you take into account the ever-growing number of maps, tasks, and roles (which dictate the tasks your Crewmate is best suited to tackle).

Managing Online Gameplay

A big part of Among Us is the social component of discussing a murder and scrutinizing evidence with your fellow Crewmates. Fortunately, between platform level controls, and in-game filters, there’s a lot you can do to keep things appropriate for your kids.

From the jump, make sure you set up a child account for your kids – especially if they’re under the age of 13. In fact, with all online services, it’s essential that your kids know to enter their correct birthday when creating an account. Children under the age of 13 are afforded numerous protections under the law regarding information that can be collected from them. During the signup process the game will prompt your kids to enter your email address, which will give you the opportunity to provide permission to set up a child account.

Once your kids’ account is set up, they will automatically be set to “Quick-Chat Mode”, which enables a set of canned phrases to communicate with other Crewmates. Furthermore, they cannot communicate directly with other users at all. As the parent, you are free to provide permission to allow your children to communicate directly through the game’s parent portal.

Beyond this, virtually every device offers additional parental controls to help manage or block online communication between players.

Being an Involved Crewmate

Most parents want to be the Crewmate that creates appropriate video game experiences for their kids, and the best way to do that is to stay as involved as you can. This can be as simple as encouraging an ongoing, judgement-free conversation with your kids about what they’re playing, why they like it, and more.

Depending upon the device, parental controls can help parents manage what their kids play, for how long, with whom, and whether (and how much) they can spend money on in-game purchases. ESRB offers free, step-by-step parental controls guides for many platforms as well as a Family Gaming Guide at ParentalTools.org.

The post What Parents Need to Know About Among Us appeared first on ESRB Ratings.

Is Among Us Appropriate for Your Kids?

Among Us is rated E10+ for Everyone 10+, with Content Descriptors that include Fantasy Violence and Mild Blood. It also has Interactive Elements that include “Users Interact,” meaning players are able to chat with one another, and “In-Game Purchases,” which lets parents know the game offers the ability to make additional purchases using real-world currency.

ESRB’s Rating Summary provides more detail, stating that “players can attack other characters by using various weapons (e.g., knives, pistols, spikes); brief animations depict characters eliminating each other (e.g., getting impaled, stabbed, shot), leaving behind a cartoony corpse for others to discover.”

While the action is very cartoony and lighthearted, some parents may want to look up gameplay videos to make sure it’s appropriate for their kids.

Where Can I Play Among Us and How Much Does it Cost?

Among Us is available to download on just about every platform you can think of with varying prices, including:

• Windows PC – $4.99
• PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 – $4.99
• Nintendo Switch – $5.00
• Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S – $4.99
• Android – Free-to-play
• iOS – Free-to-play

There are also several physical (e.g., boxed) versions of Among Us available to purchase at your retailer of choice, such as Among Us – Crewmate Edition or Among Us – Ejected Edition. These versions typically include in-game and (sometimes) physical extras in addition to the game disk. As such, price varies, starting at $29.99 for the Crewmate Edition, $49.99 for the Imposter Edition, and $89.99 for the Ejected Edition.

As mentioned, all versions include the ability to purchase in-game currency using real-world money, which can in turn be used to exchange for bundles of in-game cosmetics. The in-game currency, known as Stars, can be purchased for:

• 20 Stars – $1.99
• 30 Stars – $2.99
• 40 Stars – $4.99
• 110 Stars – $9.99
• 300 Stars – $24.99

As mentioned, these can be used to exchange for bundles of cosmetic items, which are strictly visual, and only customize the appearance of your Crewmate. These include accessories like hats, clothing (called “skins”), pets, visors, and more.

Alternatively, Crewmates can earn the Beans – the free in-game currency – through regular gameplay. Beans can be exchanged for individual cosmetic items as you play, meaning all purchases are strictly optional and do not impact the gameplay in any way. Note that you have to complete a match to earn Beans.

Both Beans and stars can also be used to exchange for “Cosmicubes.” According to Among Us developer, InnerSloth, Cosmicubes are “special items that have themed cosmetics you unlock via a branching path.” By activating a Cosmicube your player can earn a third kind of currency called pods, which can be used to unlock specific, themed cosmetics within that branching Cosmicube.

Make sure you visit ParentalTools.org for our step-by-step parental controls guides that can help you restrict (or block!) spending on your kids’ game devices.

How Does Among Us Play?

Among Us is an online, multiplayer whodunnit game that casts the players in one of two roles: The Crewmates (good guys!), or the Imposters (bad guys!). Crewmates are given specific jobs or tasks to complete, which change depending on the map. Meanwhile, Imposters are aliens that pose as Crewmates while sabotaging the environment and killing the real Crewmates.

For example, the original Among Us map took place on a spaceship in need of maintenance. Some Crewmates may be tasked with fixing wires, cleaning vents, clearing asteroids, and more, all with the goal of keeping the ship running smoothly. Imposters can sabotage these jobs and/or kill Crewmates to slow down the process.

Should the body of a Crewmate be found (which it will!), players can report it to start an emergency meeting. This meeting brings all players together to go over evidence, discuss who may be the culprit, and vote to eject someone.

The game ends when either all of the Imposters are ejected or there are as many Imposters as there are real Crewmates.

There’s a surprising amount of depth to Among Us, especially when you take into account the ever-growing number of maps, tasks, and roles (which dictate the tasks your Crewmate is best suited to tackle).

Managing Online Gameplay

A big part of Among Us is the social component of discussing a murder and scrutinizing evidence with your fellow Crewmates. Fortunately, between platform level controls, and in-game filters, there’s a lot you can do to keep things appropriate for your kids.

From the jump, make sure you set up a child account for your kids – especially if they’re under the age of 13. In fact, with all online services, it’s essential that your kids know to enter their correct birthday when creating an account. Children under the age of 13 are afforded numerous protections under the law regarding information that can be collected from them. During the signup process the game will prompt your kids to enter your email address, which will give you the opportunity to provide permission to set up a child account.

Once your kids’ account is set up, they will automatically be set to “Quick-Chat Mode”, which enables a set of canned phrases to communicate with other Crewmates. Furthermore, they cannot communicate directly with other users at all. As the parent, you are free to provide permission to allow your children to communicate directly through the game’s parent portal.

Beyond this, virtually every device offers additional parental controls to help manage or block online communication between players.

Being an Involved Crewmate

Most parents want to be the Crewmate that creates appropriate video game experiences for their kids, and the best way to do that is to stay as involved as you can. This can be as simple as encouraging an ongoing, judgement-free conversation with your kids about what they’re playing, why they like it, and more.

Depending upon the device, parental controls can help parents manage what their kids play, for how long, with whom, and whether (and how much) they can spend money on in-game purchases. ESRB offers free, step-by-step parental controls guides for many platforms as well as a Family Gaming Guide at ParentalTools.org.

The post What Parents Need to Know About Among Us appeared first on ESRB Ratings.

Mood Management and Mental Well-being

As humans, we have been playing since the beginning of time. Within ancient, ruined cities researchers often find card decks and dice found among the rubble. Play has been important for humans of all ages throughout time; it’s not something that is only critical for child development like many people assume. Not only is play crucial to mental well-being, including enhancing creativity and happiness, but it has also been associated with reduced depression and anxiety (see here, here, and here).

Far too often we forget that video games are at their core playful. All video games are designed to be entertaining, engaging, and fun!

Play has such a strong influence on our well-being because of the role it can play in mood management and repair. Mood management and mood repair strategies refer to techniques that a person can use to shift their mood from a negative mood to one of greater contentment of happiness. From sadness to happiness. Or high stress to lower stress.

In fact, research has found video games to be a particularly efficient vehicle for mood management. This is because good games (well-designed games) engage players in a way that meets basic psychological needs as humans. They give you a sense autonomy (you are free to make your own choices and have control), competence (you can achieve things, be successful), and relatedness (connecting with other villagers and your friends via online play). These three components – autonomy, competence, and relatedness – are universal and thought to be essential for psychological health and well-being of an individual. Having these needs met, while also having the added element of playfulness, makes us feel good, happy, and satisfied.

Far too often we forget that video games are at their core playful. All video games are designed to be entertaining, engaging, and fun!

Social Connection

Video games are a great way to foster social relationships, particularly online. Due to their interactivity, connecting online through a video game is uniquely different from connecting socially online through an online forum or social media. They provide us with a way to actively engage with others, collaborate or compete with them and have shared experiences which is particularly notable now as COVID-19 has kept us (and continues to keep us) physically distanced and less able to have traditional shared experiences, like play dates and dinner parties.

In and of itself, socialization is a key component of our wellbeing. One of the key reasons for that is how it reduces our sense of loneliness,

which can have a range of negative effects on our physical and mental health including increased stress and depression. In fact, research has found that loneliness and social isolation is twice as harmful to a person’s physical and mental health than obesity. Shared experiences can provide a buffer for these effects and have also been found to be related to increased self-esteem, decreased feelings of depression, anxiety, and isolation and an increased sense of belonging.

Video games are a fantastic vehicle for shared experiences as they can connect us in a fun, safe social space. This is, at least partially, why games such as Animal Crossing (Everyone) and Among Us (Everyone 10+) have been so popular over the last year.

“Unintentional” Learning 

While claims about the effects of video game use often focus on what negative thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors they might teach players, often with little supporting evidence, in more recent years researchers have turned their attention to the potential positive “unintentional” learning experiences that can occur when playing games. I refer to it here as “unintentional learning” because the things we are talking about – learning new information and new skills – are not the explicit goal of the games they are playing, but rather an “unintentional consequence” of playing them.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (Everyone 10+)

While it may not seem obvious at first, video games are fantastic vehicles for learning new skills. Part of the reason for this is that they induce a state of flow. Often referred to as being “in the zone”, players experience flow states when in-game challenges are balanced with the skill level of the player. When in a state of flow, players become hyper focused on the in-game task and are determined to overcome it because their skills are being challenged. It is in this state that various kinds of learning can occur. Games are also great learning tools because people want to play them. On top of that, playing together with others can socially reinforce the activity, making them want to play more.

What can be learned playing video games you ask? Research has found video game play can promote the acquisition of a variety of skills and abilities including creative thinking, problem solving, adaptability and resourcefulness, and leadership skills.

The link between video game play and creative thinking may not be particularly surprising, as most video games require players to develop new solutions to different problems in a short amount of time.  Overcoming various in-game challenges can promote thinking outside the box and help develop more complex problem-solving skills.

Leadership skills are also often discussed in the context of unintentional learning when playing online games. Online games provide a particularly unique opportunity to observe, learn, and lead groups of all sizes, ages, and backgrounds. Experimenting with and experiencing success in leadership roles online have been found to cross over into other offline contexts.

Players can also unintentionally gain knowledge while playing video games, the nature of which depends on the video game they are playing. For example, you can learn about history playing games like Age of Empires (Everyone 10+, Teen), or what it takes to be a successful city planner by playing the popular simulation series Sim City (Everyone 10+), or the wonders of the world, key world leaders, and world history through Sid Meier’s Civilization (Everyone 10+).

While there will likely always be discussions of “how much is too much” and “are games impacting our children problematically”, it is important to keep in mind the other side of the coin: Video games can, and do, have a proven range of positive impacts on those who play them. From mood management and stress release to social connection and learning, video games are fantastic tools to have in our family toolkit… especially when advised to stay safely 6-feet away from those around us.

Dr. Rachel Kowert is a research psychologist, Research Director of Take This, and science content creator Psychgeist. Dr. Kowert has dedicated her career to studying video games and the gamers who love them. She has published numerous books and scientific articles on the topic and has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, Polygon, The Science of Us and NPR among others. Her latest book, A Parent’s Guide to Video Games, won an INDIES award in the science category. To learn more about Rachel and her work, visit www.rkowert.com.

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