Indie hit Among Us has been made a topic of discussion in the investigation into the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. This is because it is a game that accused gunman Luigi Mangione once played with his friends in a Discord group. While the game is used for innocent online fun, the goal of the game for one particular character role has been put into the spotlight due to its violent nature.
All About Among Us
Since its release in 2018, the name of the game in Among Us has remained the same despite several large updates. Players are dropped onto a map and take on the role of small and colorful crew members who are meant to complete their daily tasks. Only, in that group, there is at least one impostor among them whose missing is to sabotage, kill, and lie their way to victory. The impostor needs to be stealthy and quite good at manipulation to complete this task. Despite how simple the game appears, Among Us is always a mind game. Either the plotting impostors come out on top, or the sleuthing crew members do.
The gameplay of Among Us, even if it is a harmless indie game, is the reason why it has been brought up in the investigation. It is also a reason why people who interacted with Mangione on Discord are being interviewed. Alejandro Romero was a member of the Discord group and attended the same university that Mangione attended, the University of Pennsylvania. In an interview with NBC News, Romero was asked about the game. He responded, “I just found it extremely ironic that, you know, we were in this game and there could actually be a true killer among us.”
The Response
When Among Us was cast into the spotlight because of the case, it didn’t take long for the developers and fans of the game to respond. However, the reaction hasn’t been all that serious, as people are joking about this part of the case. On X (formerly Twitter), the ones running the official page for the game made a post that just reads “um”, which has gained a lot of attention from fans who are up to date with the investigation. When looking at the comments under that post, one will find mainly jokes about the situation.
Victoria Tran, the community director for Innersloth, has been reacting to the situation on her personal account. She’s also making light of the situation. She even went as far as to change the location on the account for Among Us to “not being involved in crimes.” She also stated how much restraint she’s using to not post memes about the game’s role in the investigation. Despite a case that has resulted in a serious murder charge usually being no laughing matter, the dev team and the game’s fanbase are taking this in stride.
The Game’s Impact
The addition of Among Us into the investigation of Luigi Mangione is an odd turn of events. Normally, indie projects such as this one are in the spotlight because of how much fun people have while playing them. However, just because Mangione played the game in the past doesn’t mean the game influenced him to commit the murder he’s been accused of and charged with doing. While media outlets are not directly blaming the game, other games have been accused of influencing negative behavior and crimes in the past. Unless there is solid evidence of that being the case, it’s just pure speculation and a part of the effort to learn as much about the accused shooter as possible.
