A Little “Edutainment” Goes a Long Way: Leveraging Among Us®, a Popular Multiplayer Game, to Teach Persuasion Virtually

Abstract

Challenged by COVID-19, we sought ways to increase engagement in the virtual classroom, capitalizing on a popular multiplayer game to teach persuasion to undergraduate students. In the game Among Us ®, players (“Crewmates”) work together to repair their spaceship before it explodes while being attacked by other players (“Impostors”). The structure of the game lends itself to the use of persuasion and influence tactics and provides the basis for a fun, applied learning activity, designed to take 1 hour. We provide detailed instructions for preparing students for the game, running the game, and debriefing. While the constraints resulting from COVID-19 inspired the adoption of this activity for the classroom, we believe it can work well in both virtual and face-to-face classrooms.