Them Among Us
Group dynamics, the definition of politics, and why politics is so unpleasant
The new online party game my friends and students have been playing during lockdown is called Among Us. A social deception game in the mold of the classic Mafia (also called Werewolves), Among Us involves a spaceship’s “crew” which has been assigned a set of tasks along with one or more “impostors” who try to prevent them from finishing these tasks. The impostors can move in slightly different ways than the crew, can sabotage parts of the ship, and can kill crew members every so often. Crew members can only win by voting to eject from the ship those they think are impostors.
If you’re like most people who read internet publications like this, there’s probably some group of people participating in the public discourse you just don’t like. Here’s one thing you probably believe about them: They protect their own; they don’t apply the same principles when it comes to judging the “in-group” as they do when it comes to judging the “out-group.” Here’s another thing you probably believe about them: They’re constantly turning on each other, and in your weaker moments it’s kind of fun to watch them excommunicating formerly stalwart group members for minor transgressions of word choice or etiquette that you don’t really understand.
