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129-732: Among Us is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by American game studio Innersloth. The game allows for cross-platform play ; it was released on iOS and Android devices in June 2018 and on Windows later that year in November. It was ported to the Nintendo Switch in December 2020 and on the PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in December 2021. A virtual reality adaptation, Among Us VR ,

258-1039: A Local Area Network (LAN) version, 1991's Spectre for the Apple Macintosh, featured AppleTalk support for up to eight players. Spectre's popularity was partially attributed to the display of a player's name above their cybertank. There followed 1993's Doom , whose first network version allowed four simultaneous players. Play-by-email multiplayer games use email to communicate between computers. Other turn-based variations not requiring players to be online simultaneously are Play-by-post gaming and Play-by-Internet . Some online games are " massively multiplayer ", with many players participating simultaneously. Two massively multiplayer genres are MMORPG (such as World of Warcraft or EverQuest ) and MMORTS . First-person shooters have become popular multiplayer games; Battlefield 1942 and Counter-Strike have little (or no) single-player gameplay. Developer and gaming site OMGPOP 's library included multiplayer Flash games for

387-507: A one-shot manga based on the game would be published in Bessatsu CoroCoro ' s April issue on February 28, 2022. On June 27, 2023, it was confirmed that an animated series based on Among Us is being worked on by CBS Studios , from Infinity Train creator Owen Dennis. On March 15, 2024, it was announced that American actors Randall Park , Yvette Nicole Brown , Elijah Wood , and Ashley Johnson would provide voice roles for

516-461: A wide area network (a common example being the Internet). Unlike local multiplayer, players playing online multiplayer are not restricted to the same local network. This allows players to interact with others from a much greater distance. Playing multiplayer online offers the benefits of distance, but it also comes with its own unique challenges. Gamers refer to latency using the term " ping ", after

645-559: A "shame". Among Us has been frequently compared to Fall Guys , as both became popular as party games during the COVID-19 pandemic; the developers of both games have positively acknowledged each other on Twitter . Comparisons have also been drawn between the two games' avatars , which have been said to look like jelly beans . Among Us has also been compared to The Thing , Town of Salem , Werewolves Within , and Secret Hitler . As of September 2020, Steam Spy estimated that

774-630: A Crewmate, but ultimately players must weigh the veracity or value of each other's statements. Players then vote for who they believe is an Impostor; if a plurality vote is obtained, the player who received the most votes is "ejected" from the game. Players who are killed or ejected become ghosts, which can still perform tasks (Crewmates) or sabotages (Impostors) but are otherwise unable to be seen by or interact with living players. Effectively, spectators and ghosts may see and pass through walls, follow players or other ghosts, and chat with other ghosts. A November 2021 update added additional specialized roles to

903-452: A Crewmate, which he called "exhausting". In reference to the game's popularity among streamers, Evelyn Lau of The National said: "Watching the reactions of people trying to guess who the imposter is (and sometimes getting it very wrong) or lying terribly about not being the imposter is all quite entertaining." Alice O'Conner of Rock, Paper, Shotgun described the game as "Mafia or Werewolf but with minigames". Andrew Penney of TheGamer said

1032-478: A LAN. This involves multiple devices using one local network to play together. Networked multiplayer games on LAN eliminate common problems faced when playing online such as lag and anonymity. Games played on a LAN network are the focus of LAN parties . While local co-op and LAN parties still take place, there has been a decrease in both due to an increasing number of players and games utilizing online multiplayer gaming. Online multiplayer games connect players over

1161-565: A boring environment". So, they decided that the game would be space-themed and also added tasks, which, according to Forest Willard, programmer at Innersloth, "changed several times during development". Development began in November 2017. The game was initially intended to be a mobile-only local multiplayer game with a single map. Bromander paused development on Innersloth's other game, The Henry Stickmin Collection , in order to build Among Us ' first map, The Skeld. When they began developing

1290-673: A cable. Their article includes a type-in , two-player Hangman , and describes the authors' more-sophisticated Flash Attack . SuperSet Software 's Snipes (1981) uses networking technology that would become Novell NetWare . Digital Equipment Corporation distributed another multi-user version of Star Trek , Decwar , without real-time screen updating; it was widely distributed to universities with DECsystem-10s. In 1981 Cliff Zimmerman wrote an homage to Star Trek in MACRO-10 for DECsystem-10s and -20s using VT100-series graphics. "VTtrek" pitted four Federation players against four Klingons in

1419-419: A dead body, or by pressing an Emergency Meeting button. During meetings, players discuss—via the in-game text chat or an external voice chat application such as Discord —who they believe to be Impostors based on available witness testimonies , with Impostors lying to hide their identity or falsely accusing other players. Impostors can be identified beyond reasonable doubt if they are seen venting or killing

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1548-524: A definition altogether. In Victor v. Nebraska (1994), the US Supreme Court expressed disapproval of the unclear reasonable doubt instructions at issue, but stopped short of setting forth an exemplary jury instruction. Reasonable doubt came into existence in English common law and was intended to protect the jurors from committing a potentially mortal sin, since only God may pass judgment on man. The idea

1677-475: A display showing their proximity to the Impostor as well as the number of remaining Crewmates. Near the end of the round, the Impostor obtains a "seek" button allowing them to see where Crewmates are. Before each game, various options can be adjusted to customize aspects of gameplay, such as player movement speed, the allowed number of emergency meetings, number of tasks and visual tasks, or whether or not an Impostor

1806-545: A door log system with sensors in MIRA HQ, and a vitals indicator in Polus that shows the living status of all players. In addition, certain "visual tasks" provide animated cues, such as scanning oneself in the Skeld's medbay . As Impostors cannot perform tasks, Crewmates can use visual tasks to confirm their identity to nearby Crewmates. Any living player may call a group meeting by reporting

1935-451: A drastically different way, with different mechanics, a different type of objective, or both. Examples of games with strong asymmetry include Dead by Daylight , Evolve , and Left 4 Dead . Asynchronous multiplayer is a form of multiplayer gameplay where players do not have to be playing at the same time. This form of multiplayer game has its origins in play-by-mail games , where players would send their moves through postal mail to

2064-457: A fifth map, new Hide & Seek game mode, and new roles. The new colors, along with 15 player lobby support, new meeting screen and revamp at the game's design, was released on June 15, 2021, during the game's third anniversary. On July 7, 2021, Innersloth released a minor update that adds a new task, "Clean Vent", which involves the Crewmate cleaning a specific vent, preventing Impostors (and as of

2193-483: A front for child sex trafficking . In 2022, the listing was recognized by Guinness World Records as the "most expensive chicken nugget sold at online auction". That October, Chilean chicken brand Super Pollo partnered with Innersloth to launch a Crewmate-shaped chicken nugget into the Earth's thermosphere . In mid-October 2020, a hacker known as "Eris Loris" began targeting mainly North American servers. Several players on

2322-476: A game master, who then would compile and send out results for the next turn. Play-by-mail games transitioned to electronic form as play-by-email games. Similar games were developed for bulletin board systems , such as Trade Wars , where the turn structure may not be as rigorous and allow players to take actions at any time in a persistence space alongside all other players, a concept known as sporadic play. These types of asynchronous multiplayer games waned with

2451-565: A judge's specific instructions to a jury, to simplify or qualify reasonable doubt. Legal systems have tended to avoid quantifying the reasonable doubt standard (for example, "over 90% probability "); legal scholars from a variety of analytical perspectives have argued in favor of quantification of the criminal standard of proof. In a 2019 YouGov survey conducted in the United Kingdom, participants were asked to quantify how accurate an evidence had to be before they could consider it to be beyond

2580-573: A layout similar to the Among Us map. Innersloth responded in frustration to this mode, which gave no credit to Innersloth. Innersloth's co-founder Marcus Bromander stated "Is it really that hard to put 10% more effort into putting your own spin on it though?", while studio representative Callum Underwood said that Innersloth was open to collaborations, "Just ask and if you follow some basic rules it's usually fine". In an October 2021 blog posting, Epic Games did credit Innersloth and Among Us as inspirations for

2709-415: A multiple-system, multiplayer mode. Turn-based games such as chess also lend themselves to single system single screen and even to a single controller. Multiple types of games allow players to use local multiplayer. The term "local co-op" or "couch co-op" refers to local multiplayer games played in a cooperative manner on the same system; these may use split-screen or some other display method. Another option

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2838-403: A number of console , and personal computer games too. Local multiplayer games played on a singular system sometimes use split screen , so each player has an individual view of the action (important in first-person shooters and in racing video games ) Nearly all multiplayer modes on beat 'em up games have a single-system option, but racing games have started to abandon split-screen in favor of

2967-471: A person claiming to be Eris Loris, conducted via the Discord server from one of the links provided in the hacked games. In the interview, Loris claims he created the bot responsible for the hacks "in only six hours", and had enlisted up to 50 volunteers to form a botnet which boosted the strength of their attacks. Loris claimed that the hack impacted 4.9 million players in 1.5 million games. He added that

3096-547: A program running on each terminal (for each player), sharing a segment of shared memory (known as the "high segment" in the OS TOPS-10). The games became popular, and the university often banned them because of their RAM use . STAR was based on 1974's single-user, turn-oriented BASIC program STAR, written by Michael O'Shaughnessy at UNH. Wasserman and Stryker in 1980 described in BYTE how to network two Commodore PET computers with

3225-481: A publishing label, Outersloth, to help support other indie developers, using a recoup-and-revenue-share model whereby Outersloth invests in a game and recoups those funds from sales. Innersloth had wanted to be able to support other developers, and after seeing the game Mars First Logistics , set the formation of Outersloth in motion. Outersloth was revealed in 2024 as part of the Summer Game Fest . While Among Us

3354-464: A reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime with which he is charged." Juries must be instructed to apply the reasonable doubt standard when determining the guilt or innocence of a criminal defendant. However, courts have struggled to define what constitutes a reasonable doubt. There is disagreement as to whether the jury should be given a definition of "reasonable doubt." Some state courts have prohibited providing juries with

3483-432: A reasonable doubt. To do so, the prosecution must present compelling evidence that leaves little real doubt in the mind of the trier of fact (the judge or jury) that the defendant is almost certainly guilty. For any reasonable doubt to exist, it must come from insufficient evidence, or conflicts within the evidence, that would leave an impartial factfinder less than fully convinced of the defendant's guilt. Accordingly,

3612-406: A reasonable doubt; 15% of Britons said they would accept an evidence that was 99% accurate, while 14% preferred an accuracy of no less than 100%, and 10% said it should be at least 90% or 95% accurate. Medieval Roman law , followed by the English jurist Edward Coke , expressed a similar idea by requiring "proofs clearer than light" for criminal conviction. The formulation "beyond reasonable doubt"

3741-427: A significantly different experience of the game. In games with light asymmetry, the players share some of the same basic mechanics (such as movement and death), yet have different roles in the game; this is a common feature of the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre such as League of Legends and Dota 2 , and in hero shooters such as Overwatch and Apex Legends . A first-person shooter that adopts

3870-609: A single computer were STAR (based on Star Trek ), OCEAN (a battle using ships, submarines and helicopters, with players divided between two combating cities) and 1975's CAVE (based on Dungeons & Dragons ), created by Christopher Caldwell (with artwork and suggestions by Roger Long and assembly coding by Robert Kenney) on the University of New Hampshire 's DECsystem-10 90. The university's computer system had hundreds of terminals, connected (via serial lines) through cluster PDP-11s for student, teacher, and staff access. The games had

3999-477: A song based on the game in September 2020, titled "Show Yourself", and gained over 60 million views in four months. In September 2020, the game exceeded 100 million downloads and its player count rose to 1.5 million concurrent players (nearly 400 thousand of which were on Steam), then peaked at 3.8 million in late September. The sudden increase in players overloaded the game's server, which according to Willard

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4128-461: A standalone VR version titled Among Us VR was announced. Co-developed by Schell Games , Innersloth, and Robot Teddy, the game was released on November 10, 2022, for the Meta Quest 2 and Windows via Steam , with a PlayStation 5 version via PlayStation VR2 planned for the future. Among Us VR features similar gameplay to the original game, but is played from a first-person perspective. Several of

4257-579: A system for banning disruptive players. In October 2020, colorblind support for the "wires" task was added to the Among Us beta on Steam, as well as some previously unannounced lobby customization options. In mid-February 2021, the game added a feature called Quickchat, which replaces the standard chat interface with a series of preset phrases that players must pick from. Players under the age of 13 are required to use Quickchat, but those over 13 are also allowed to use Free Chat, which allows them to type text messages. First announced at The Game Awards 2020 ,

4386-412: A system similar to the "quick comms" system from Rocket League , as well as the possibility of developing an entirely new communication system for the game. Versions of the game for Xbox consoles were later announced. Among Us was released for the Nintendo Switch on December 15, 2020, the same day it was announced during an Indie World showcase. The Switch version supports cross-platform play with

4515-503: A three-dimensional universe. Flight Simulator II , released in 1986 for the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga, allowed two players to connect via modem or serial cable and fly together in a shared environment. MIDI Maze , an early first-person shooter released in 1987 for the Atari ST , featured network multiplay through a MIDI interface before Ethernet and Internet play became common. It

4644-514: A trial judge must use to explain the concept, it recommended certain elements that should be included in a jury charge, as well as pointing out comments that should be avoided. The Supreme Court suggested that the concept of proof beyond a reasonable doubt should be explained to juries as follows: The Court also warned trial judges that they should avoid explaining the concept in the following ways: The Supreme Court of Canada has since emphasized in R. v. Starr that an effective way to explain

4773-400: A utility which measures round-trip network communication delays (by the use of ICMP packets). A player on a DSL connection with a 50- ms ping can react faster than a modem user with a 350-ms average latency. Other problems include packet loss and choke, which can prevent a player from "registering" their actions with a server. In first-person shooters, this problem appears when bullets hit

4902-411: Is hot-seat games . Hot-seat games are typically turn-based games with only one controller or input set – such as a single keyboard/mouse on the system. Players rotate using the input device to perform their turn such that each is taking a turn on the "hot-seat". Not all local multiplayer games are played on the same console or personal computer. Some local multiplayer games are played over

5031-399: Is a higher standard of proof than the standard of balance of probabilities (US English: preponderance of the evidence) commonly used in civil cases because the stakes are much higher in a criminal case: a person found guilty can be deprived of liberty or, in extreme cases, life , as well as suffering the collateral consequences and social stigma attached to a conviction. The prosecution

5160-534: Is characteristic of Anglophone legal systems since the eighteenth century. In English common law prior to the reasonable doubt standard, passing judgment in criminal trials had severe religious repercussions for jurors. According to judicial law prior to the 1780s, "the Juryman who finds any other person guilty, is liable to the Vengeance of God upon his Family and Trade, Body and Soul, in this world and that to come." It

5289-501: Is considered the first multiplayer 3D shooter on a mainstream system, and the first network multiplayer action-game (with support for up to 16 players). There followed ports to a number of platforms (including Game Boy and Super NES ) in 1991 under the title Faceball 2000 , making it one of the first handheld, multi-platform first-person shooters and an early console example of the genre. Networked multiplayer gaming modes are known as "netplay". The first popular video-game title with

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5418-491: Is dedicated to the game, and sees the characters dressed up as Crewmates. Among Us was also featured as a question on Jeopardy! Among Us is seen being played by characters in the 2022 film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery . Epic Games featured a community-created game mode in Fortnite Creative in December 2020 called "The Spy Within", which had very similar mechanics to Among Us , in which among ten players,

5547-461: Is justified in returning a verdict of guilty must be sufficient to produce a conviction of guilt, to the exclusion of all reasonable doubt." The U.S. Supreme Court extended the reasonable doubt standard to juvenile delinquency proceedings because they are considered quasi-criminal. "[W]e explicitly hold that the Due Process Clause protects the accused against conviction except upon proof beyond

5676-405: Is often done via a third-party program that modifies the game's code at runtime to give one or more players an advantage. In other situations, it is frequently done by changing the game's files to change the game's mechanics. Reasonable doubt Beyond ( a ) reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems . It

5805-410: Is revealed after being voted off, allowing participants to manually balance the game's settings to their desires. Players may modify their own appearances with cosmetics , including skins , hats, visors, and pets, some of which are purchasable as microtransactions . Among Us was inspired by the live party game Mafia , and the science fiction horror film The Thing . The idea for the concept

5934-430: Is tasked with providing evidence that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in order to get a conviction; albeit prosecution may fail to complete such task, the trier-of-fact's acceptance that guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt will in theory lead to conviction of the defendant. A failure for the trier-of-fact to accept that the standard of proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt has been met thus entitles

6063-500: Is that the accused is presumed innocent until guilt is proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The US Supreme Court held that "the Due Process clause protects the accused against conviction except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime charged." The US Supreme Court first discussed the term in Miles v. United States : "The evidence upon which a jury

6192-429: Is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt subject to what I have already said as to the defence of insanity and subject also to any statutory exception. If, at the end of and on the whole of the case, there is a reasonable doubt, created by the evidence given by either the prosecution or the prisoner, as to whether the prisoner killed the deceased with a malicious intention, the prosecution has not made out

6321-559: The Among Us subreddit and Twitter reported this player hacking their lobbies and spamming in-game chat with promotions for his YouTube channel, links to his Discord server, and controversial political messages. Eris Loris threatened to personally hack players that refused to subscribe to his YouTube channel. The Discord server has been found to contain large amounts of offensive content, such as racist language, gore, pornography , and images depicting animal abuse . A Eurogamer report from October 23, 2020, features an interview with

6450-578: The Guinness World Record for best selling MMO video game. This category of games requires multiple machines to connect via the Internet; before the Internet became popular, MUDs were played on time-sharing computer systems and games like Doom were played on a LAN. Beginning with the Sega NetLink in 1996, Game.com in 1997 and Dreamcast in 2000, game consoles support network gaming over LANs and

6579-610: The Xbox Game Pass for console. These versions support cross-platform play with existing Windows, Switch, and mobile versions. Unique to the PlayStation ports are special customization options based on Ratchet & Clank . Physical releases for consoles were available in Europe the same day, while North American physical releases were released in January 2022. During The Game Awards 2021 ,

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6708-449: The "Impostors" mode. On June 17, 2022, both Epic and Innersloth announced a collab between Fortnite and Among Us , with a "back bling" of a Crewmate in interchangeable colors and the "Distraction Dance" from Innersloth's Henry Stickmin franchise available in the Fortnite item shop. An Among Us -themed downloadable content expansion for Vampire Survivors , titled "Emergency Meeting",

6837-519: The 1980s further popularized multiplayer gaming. Titles like Super Mario Bros. for the NES and Golden Axe for the Sega Genesis introduced cooperative and competitive gameplay. Additionally, LAN gaming emerged in the late 1980s, enabling players to connect multiple computers for multiplayer gameplay, popularized by titles like Doom and Warcraft: Orcs & Humans . Players can also play together in

6966-578: The Airship map was released on March 31, 2021. The Airship features multiple floors, contraptions, tasks, and "more". In addition, Game Awards presenter Geoff Keighley 's face was added as a skin. The map itself is based upon the Henry Stickmin series' Toppat Clan Airship. Innersloth also stated that the map would be free to all players. It also features a skin bundle that includes Henry Stickmin -themed cosmetic that can be bought on Steam. The accounts system

7095-512: The Fungle, a mushroom jungle map. The Crewmates can win the game one of two ways: either by completing all assigned tasks or by ejecting all Impostors. Impostors can likewise win in two ways: either by killing or ejecting all Crewmates, or by sabotaging a critical system on the map (provided the Crewmates do not resolve it in time). At the start of the game, Crewmates are assigned "tasks" to complete around

7224-468: The Internet. Over time the number of people playing video games has increased. In 2020, the majority of households in the United States have an occupant that plays video games, and 65% of gamers play multiplayer games with others either online or in person. For some games, "multiplayer" implies that players are playing on the same gaming system or network. This applies to all arcade games , but also to

7353-496: The Internet. Many mobile phones and handheld consoles also offer wireless gaming with Bluetooth (or similar) technology. By the early 2010s online gaming had become a mainstay of console platforms such as Xbox and PlayStation . During the 2010s, as the number of Internet users increased, two new video game genres rapidly gained worldwide popularity – multiplayer online battle arena and battle royale game , both designed exclusively for multiplayer gameplay over

7482-616: The Nintendo Switch . Among Us was offered as a free game on the Epic Games Store during one week in May 2021. Its average daily player count jumped from around 350,000 players in the weeks before to over 2 million players during the giveaway. On June 29, 2021, Innersloth reported on Twitter that during the game's free promotion on Epic Games Store, at least 15 million copies were claimed. Sales from Among Us allowed Innersloth to create

7611-425: The November 9 update, Engineers) from using it, as well as some icon changes. On November 9, 2021, a major update was released that introduced four new roles (Shapeshifter, Engineer, Scientist, and Guardian Angel), achievements, a level system, controller support, custom keybinds, visor cosmetics, cosmetic bundles called "Cosmicubes", various in-game currencies, and a major revamp to the in-game store, which also reveals

7740-520: The PC and mobile versions. He also stated that the communication system is "frustrating", as using the joystick to select letters is "slow", and said the fact that the game has support for multiplayer across multiple platforms gives Switch players "immediate disadvantage". PJ O'Reilly of Nintendo Life noted that the Switch lacked much of the additional content available on other platforms, such as skins, which he called

7869-586: The SFX during the game's Steam release. On August 8, 2019, Innersloth released a second map, MIRA HQ, a "tightly packed headquarters roughly the size of The Skeld". A third map, Polus, was added on November 12, 2019, and is set in a research station. The fourth map, the Airship, was released on March 31, 2021, and is based on a location in the Henry Stickmin universe. MIRA HQ and Polus originally cost players US$ 4 via in-app purchase. Their prices were reduced to US$ 2 on January 6, 2020, then made free on June 11, 2020. While

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7998-428: The Switch controls give "many tasks a satisfying game response". However, he also stated that most of the tasks could be "done quickly with the Switch's touchscreen control", which can only be used when the console is in handheld mode. He noted that many of the game's tasks are difficult to complete using a gamepad, which is required when the console is connected to a larger screen, and considered this version "inferior" to

8127-403: The accused to an acquittal . This standard of proof is widely accepted in many criminal justice systems, and its origin can be traced to Blackstone's ratio , "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer." Because a defendant is presumed to be innocent , the prosecution has the burden of proving the defendant's guilt on every element of each criminal charge beyond

8256-509: The age of 13 would need their parents' permission to create an account. Implementing an account system also allowed Innersloth to add account linking and a friending system in future updates. Innersloth later revealed on the game's official Twitter account a new color to the game, Rose, which was included in the game's next update along with five other colors: Coral, Tan, Gray, Maroon, and Banana, which were revealed during Summer Game Fest on June 10, 2021, alongside other upcoming content, including

8385-628: The arcades. The games had broader consoles to allow for four sets of controls. Ken Wasserman and Tim Stryker identified three factors which make networked computer games appealing: John G. Kemeny wrote in 1972 that software running on the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System (DTSS) had recently gained the ability to support multiple simultaneous users, and that games were the first use of the functionality. DTSS's popular American football game, he said, now supported head-to-head play by two humans. The first large-scale serial sessions using

8514-425: The asymmetrical multiplayer system is Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege . Giving players their own special operator changes every player's experience. This puts an emphasis on players improvising their own game plan given the abilities their character has. In games with stronger elements of asymmetry, one player/team may have one gameplay experience (or be in softly asymmetric roles) while the other player or team play in

8643-401: The auction, who largely cited it as an example of an absurd price caused by internet memes , and following the sale, multiple other listings selling nuggets of a similar shape were made in hopes of profiting from the popularity of the original listing. Several TikTokers and QAnon -adjacent conspiracy theorists promoted misinformation and rumors claiming that the high price of the listing was

8772-672: The basic Werewolf rules," whereas Among Us is as an entirely new take on the concept. Along with Fall Guys and the Jackbox Party Packs , Among Us provided a narrative-less experience that helped to avoid the "cultural trauma" of the pandemic, according to M.J. Lewis of Wired . The game's popularity continued into the following months. YouTube reported that videos about Among Us were viewed 4 billion times in September 2020, and TikTok videos related to Among Us had over 13 billion views in October 2020. YouTuber CG5 wrote

8901-450: The case and the prisoner is entitled to an acquittal. No matter what the charge or where the trial, the principle that the prosecution must prove the guilt of the prisoner is part of the common law of England and no attempt to whittle it down can be entertained. In recent years the preferred terminology used is simply "sure" – juries are told they must be "satisfied that they are sure" of the defendant's guilt in order to convict. In Canada,

9030-404: The casual player until it was shut down in 2013. Some networked multiplayer games, including MUDs and massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) such as RuneScape , omit a single-player mode. The largest MMO in 2008 was World of Warcraft , with over 10 million registered players worldwide. World of Warcraft would hit its peak at 12 million players two years later in 2010, and in 2023 earned

9159-531: The community, which added roles, game modes, cosmetics, etc. Among Us was featured in Twitch Rivals 2020 , an online gaming tournament which was held on December 4, 2020. During the event, players were able to receive an exclusive pet called "Glitch Pet", which is the Twitch logo. In May 2021, an eBay user named Tav listed a Chicken McNugget from the 2021 BTS Meal by McDonald's for online auction . The nugget

9288-478: The concept is to tell the jury that proof beyond a reasonable doubt "falls much closer to absolute certainty than to proof on a balance of probabilities." It is not enough to believe that the accused is probably guilty, or likely guilty. Proof of probable guilt, or likely guilt, is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt. In New Zealand, jurors are typically told throughout a trial that the offence must be proved "beyond reasonable doubt", and judges usually include this in

9417-533: The emergence of electronic gaming in the mid-20th century. One of the earliest instances of multiplayer interaction was witnessed with the development of Spacewar! in 1962 for the DEC PDP-1 computer by Steve Russell and colleagues at the MIT . During the late 1970s and early 1980s, multiplayer gaming gained momentum within the arcade scene with classics like Pong and Tank . The transition to home gaming consoles in

9546-534: The enemy without damage. The player's connection is not the only factor; some servers are slower than others. A server that is geographically closer to the player's connection will often provide a lower ping. Data packets travel faster to a location that is closer to them. How far the device is from an internet connection ( router ) can also affect latency. Asymmetrical multiplayer is a type of gameplay in which players can have significantly different roles or abilities from each other – enough to provide

9675-543: The expression "beyond a reasonable doubt" requires clarification for the benefit of the jury. The leading decision is R. v. Lifchus , where the Supreme Court discussed the proper elements of a charge to the jury on the concept of "reasonable doubt" and noted that "[t]he correct explanation of the requisite burden of proof is essential to ensure a fair criminal trial." While the Court did not prescribe any specific wording that

9804-488: The first map, they intended that the ship was always in crisis and that the Impostors could do tasks. However, they found this setup "stressful" and decided that it "[would not leave] much time for detective work and informed meeting conversations". Willard described playtesting as painful and frustrating, as the game would break down during sessions forcing him to send playtesters new builds off of Google Play . The team tested

9933-402: The following day. During a Nintendo Direct on September 14, 2023, the fifth map, "The Fungle", was announced. It was released on October 24, 2023. Amid its popularity, Innersloth considered releasing the game to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, but encountered a problem in implementing player communication, since standard text-based or voice-based chat seemed unusable. They considered

10062-466: The game What The Golf? Several Among Us -themed cards are included in The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls Requiem . Themed skins and cosmetics from other games and properties have been added to Among Us as well: Innersloth and Riot Games crossed-over to bring Arcane themed cosmetics to Among Us . In addition to that, Innersloth has done crossovers with Halo , Ratchet & Clank , and

10191-425: The game experience to give one player an advantage over others, such as using an " aimbot " – a program which automatically locks the player's crosshairs onto a target – in shooting games. This is also known as "hacking" or "glitching" ("glitching" refers to using a glitch , or a mistake in the code of a game, whereas "hacking" is manipulating the code of a game). Cheating in video games

10320-447: The game had more than 10 million owners on Steam . The Associated Press noted the game was the most downloaded app on the iOS App Store for both iPhones and iPads in October 2020. According to SuperData Research , the game had roughly 500 million players worldwide as of November 2020, with the free-to-play mobile version accounting for 97% of players and the buy-to-play PC version accounting for 3% of players, though it

10449-481: The game settings. An additional update in June 2024 added three more roles, including Noisemakers and Trackers to the roles of Crewmates, and Phantoms to those of Impostors. Noisemakers trigger an alert when they are killed that can visually indicate their death's location to other Crewmates. Trackers can track the location of another player for a limited amount of time. Phantoms are able to briefly turn invisible to avoid detection. An alternative "Hide and Seek" game mode

10578-431: The game was "worth it for the price" and that "who you play with dictates how fun the game is." L'avis de Tiraxa of Jeuxvideo.com praised the game's Freeplay mode, which offers newer players "to browse the map alone to accommodate the places", as they would need to play several games in order to "perfect their strategies". Leana Hafer from IGN stated in her verdict on the game: "I don't have any sus that this will be

10707-537: The game with 8 of their friends and never tested the game with 9 or the maximum of 10 players. The game was developed using the Unity engine. The game was released in June 2018 to Android and iOS under the AppID "spacemafia". Shortly after release, Among Us had an average player count of 30 to 50 concurrent players. Bromander blamed the game's poor release on Innersloth being "really bad at marketing". The team nearly abandoned

10836-497: The game's player base to snowball . Bromander attributed this to the studio having enough savings to keep working on the game even while it was not selling particularly well. In August 2020, the team shifted focus onto a sequel, Among Us 2 . During this time, Forest Willard and Amy Liu continued to update Among Us , increasing the maximum player base, adding four servers and three regions, and implementing longer multiplayer codes to support more concurrent games. On September 23, 2020,

10965-474: The game, although being free-to-play, was criticized. Osange of Bonus Stage called the presence of ads and in-app purchases of cosmetic changes that are mostly available for free on the PC version "nonsense". He also called the PC version "stable" but also stated that the Android version is "a device-by-device situation". The Nintendo Switch version received some criticism. William Antonelli of Insider said that

11094-755: The game: Crewmates can also be Engineers, Scientists, as well as regular Crewmates. When a Crewmate dies, they can also become a Guardian Angel, the role of which is not given at the beginning of a round. Engineers can traverse vents like Impostors, albeit to a limited capacity. On the other hand, Impostors can stay in the vent as long as they want. Scientists can check vitals from anywhere on the map to see if any player has been killed this round. Ghosts of Crewmates can become Guardian Angels, which can temporarily protect living players from being killed. Impostors likewise can be Shapeshifters, allowing them to temporarily morph into other players and assume their color and appearance. However, they might leave evidence behind depending on

11223-405: The hacks were part of a publicity stunt to influence players to vote for Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election . Innersloth added an in-game message warning players about the hacks on October 22, and released a statement on Twitter the next day. They said they were "super aware" of the hacking issue, and stated that an "emergency server update" would be pushed out to combat

11352-482: The hacks. They encouraged players to stick to private games and to avoid playing on public ones until the update was released. The team plans to address the hacking vulnerabilities as part of a planned overhaul for the game. At the end of January 2021, players reported via Twitter the return of Eris Loris' hack attack, who was distributing Among Us cheats. Among Us has done collaborations and cross-overs with other games and studios. The first game they collaborated with

11481-519: The judge's remark, indicating that the judge should instead have said to the jury simply that before they can return a verdict of guilty, they "must be sure that the defendant is guilty". The principle of "beyond reasonable doubt" was expounded in Woolmington v DPP [1935] UKHL 1: Juries are always told that, if conviction there is to be, the prosecution must prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. This statement cannot mean that in order to be acquitted

11610-430: The last game of its breed to make a splash, since we're already seeing its influence on even mega-games like Fortnite". As a negative point, she pointed out some technical problems, such as the difficulty of finding rooms that aren't already full or are a long way from getting there. She also lamented the lack of "mechanic to punish players who rage-quit when they don't get to play as impostor, or are caught dead to rights in

11739-581: The latter was an early first-person shooter . Other early video games included turn-based multiplayer modes, popular in tabletop arcade machines . In such games, play is alternated at some point (often after the loss of a life ). All players' scores are often displayed onscreen so players can see their relative standing. Danielle Bunten Berry created some of the first multiplayer video games, such as her debut, Wheeler Dealers (1978) and her most notable work, M.U.L.E. (1983). Gauntlet (1985) and Quartet (1986) introduced co-operative 4-player gaming to

11868-771: The map in the form of minigames , minipuzzles , and simple toggles, mostly consisting of maintenance work on vital systems such as fixing wires and downloading data. Impostors cannot complete tasks but may pretend to perform them to feign appearance as legitimate Crewmates. Impostors, however, can perform sabotages , ranging from minor (such as disabling lights , limiting the Crewmates' vision) to critical (such as disabling oxygen generators ), requiring immediate counteraction by Crewmates to prevent their deaths. Impostors may enter and traverse ventilation ducts (commonly known as "venting"), and kill nearby Crewmates. To help Crewmates identify Impostors, there are various surveillance systems on each map, such as security cameras on The Skeld,

11997-405: The map packs are still available for purchase on all platforms, they now only provide the player the skins that were bundled with the maps. According to programmer Forest Willard, the team "stuck with [the game] a lot longer than we probably should have from a pure business standpoint", putting out regular updates to the game as often as once per week. This led to a steady increase in players, causing

12126-460: The meme " Among Us everywhere" is a phenomenon where unexpected objects resemble the Crewmate character . In September 2022, "sus" was added to Merriam-Webster 's dictionary. During its time of widespread popularity, Among Us was controversially played by the U.S. Navy Esports team, in which players on the stream used in-game names referencing the slur nigger ("Gamer Word") and the bombing of Nagasaki ("Japan 1945" and "Nagasaki"). The stream

12255-469: The middle of a murder". Tiraxa of Jeuxvideo.com was more critical of the game, lamenting the lack of an inbuilt voice chat, server bugs which "[prevent] some from joining the party, in a totally unexplained way", public servers with strangers, which she considered "less entertaining" than private servers with friends, and the large development progress, stating that the game has a "bit of a way to go before it reaches its full potential". The mobile version of

12384-437: The mobile and Windows versions. This port was published by PlayEveryWare. Upon release, the Switch version had an exploit to access The Airship prior to its official release in early 2021. The exploit was fixed two days after release in the Switch version's first update. Among Us was released digitally for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 , Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S consoles on December 14, 2021, along with its release on

12513-549: The movie franchise Scream . Cosmetics themed after Benoit Blanc from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery , were made available with the Hide 'N Seek update on December 9, 2022. Cosmetics and pets themed after the game Destiny 2 were added to coincide with Destiny's Lightfall expansion on February 28, 2023. Cosmetics based on Miles Edgeworth from the Ace Attorney series were made available on September 9, 2024, to coincide with

12642-419: The names of the costumes. On March 31, 2022, a friending system was added, which allows players to see who they recently played with, send and receive friend requests, send and receive lobby invites, as well as the ability to block people. On June 21, 2022, the game was patched to include colorblind text. At The Game Awards 2022 on December 8, 2022, it was announced that the Hide & Seek mode would be released

12771-538: The objective of killing the Crewmates. The game was inspired by the party game Mafia and the science fiction horror film The Thing . While the game was initially released in 2018 to little mainstream attention, it received a massive rise in popularity in 2020 due to many Twitch streamers and YouTubers playing it during the COVID-19 pandemic . It received favorable reviews from critics for fun and entertaining gameplay. The game and its stylized characters have been

12900-498: The original game's tasks were recreated, alongside new ones. At the time of release, the only level in the game is The Skeld 2; further content updates are planned, though no details have been announced. Among Us was well received by critics. On the aggregator website Metacritic , the PC port received a 85 of 100 score based on 9 critic reviews, while the Nintendo Switch version received a 79 of 100 score based on 9 critic reviews, both them indicating "generally favorable reviews". It

13029-497: The others have to complete tasks to earn enough coins within a limited time while trying to deduce which two players are trying to sabotage that effort. Epic later added another (official and internally-developed) limited mode to Fortnite called "Impostors" in August 2021, which was recognized as even a closer take on Among Us , as the same basic mechanics as "The Spy Within" were used, but now taking place within an underground bunker with

13158-449: The percentage certainty required for 'beyond reasonable doubt', variously interpreting it as 100 per cent, 95 per cent, 75 per cent and even 50 per cent. Occasionally this produced profound misunderstandings about the standard of proof." In R v Wanhalla , President Young of the Court of Appeal set out a model jury direction on the standard of proof required for a criminal conviction. The cornerstone to American criminal jurisprudence

13287-518: The prisoner must "satisfy" the jury. This is the law as laid down in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Rex v. Davies 29 Times LR 350; 8 Cr App R 211, the headnote of which correctly states that where intent is an ingredient of a crime there is no onus on the defendant to prove that the act alleged was accidental. Throughout the web of the English Criminal Law one golden thread is always to be seen, that it

13416-487: The project multiple times but continued work on it due to a "small but vocal player base", adding in online multiplayer, new tasks, and customization options. The game was released on Steam on November 16, 2018. Cross-platform play was supported upon release of the Steam version. Originally, the game had no audio to avoid revealing hidden information in a local setting, and Willard mixed sounds from numerous sound packs to compose

13545-690: The release of the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection . Outside of the game itself Innersloth has collaborated with BT21 , and Among Us -themed posters were used to advertise the movie Free Guy . The "ejected" animation was referenced in the season 2 trailer for the animated series Snoopy in Space , and the Emergency Meeting screen was used in In Space with Markiplier . In the manga series Komi Can't Communicate , one chapter

13674-530: The same room using splitscreen . Some of the earliest video games were two-player games, including early sports games (such as 1958's Tennis For Two and 1972's Pong ), early shooter games such as Spacewar! (1962) and early racing video games such as Astro Race (1973). The first examples of multiplayer real-time games were developed on the PLATO system about 1973. Multi-user games developed on this system included 1973's Empire and 1974's Spasim ;

13803-551: The series as Red, Orange, Green, and Purple respectively. On March 27, 2024, it was announced that Dan Stevens , Liv Hewson and Kimiko Glenn would join the cast as Blue, Black, and Cyan. On April 4, 2024, it was announced that Debra Wilson , Patton Oswalt , Phil LaMarr and Wayne Knight would join the cast, playing Yellow, White, Brown, and Lime. The first official trailer premiered at Summer Game Fest on June 7, 2024. Online multiplayer The history of multiplayer video games extends over several decades, tracing back to

13932-425: The slang word " sus " (meaning "suspicious" or "suspect"), which had been used before the game's release. Other slang terms as well as internet memes popularized and inspired by Among Us include " sussy " and "sussy baka " (derived from "sus"), "when the imposter is sus" (a meme based on Among Us , usually alongside an edited photo of Jerma985 ), and " amogus " (a satiric misspelling of " Among Us "). In addition,

14061-468: The standard of proof forces the factfinder to ignore unreasonable doubts—doubts that are frivolous, hypothetical, or not logically linked to the evidence—and to consider evidence favoring the accused , since reasonable doubt entitles them to an acquittal. The definitions of the term "reasonable doubt" can be criticised for having a circular definition . Therefore, jurisdictions using this standard often rely on additional or supplemental measures, such as

14190-410: The subject of various internet memes . Among Us is a multiplayer game for four to fifteen players. Up to three players are randomly and secretly chosen to be the Impostors each round. As of 2023, five playable maps are available: a spaceship called "The Skeld", an office building called "MIRA HQ", a planet base called "Polus", "The Airship", a setting from Innersloth's Henry Stickmin series, and

14319-565: The summing-up. There is no absolute prescription as to how judges should explain reasonable doubt to juries. Judges usually tell jurors that they will be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt if they "feel sure" or "are sure" that the defendant is guilty. In line with appellate court direction, judges do little to elaborate on this or to explain what it means. Research published in 1999 found that many jurors were uncertain what "beyond reasonable doubt" meant. "They generally thought in terms of percentages, and debated and disagreed with each other about

14448-415: The team announced that they abandoned development of the sequel in favor of reworking the original game's codebase, which they described as "outdated and not built to support adding so much new content", so the team made plans to rework the game's core code to enable adding new features. The team subsequently announced their plans to fix the game's server issues and widespread cheating problem, as well as add

14577-686: The widespread availability of the Internet which allowed players to play against each other simultaneously, but remains an option in many strategy-related games, such as the Civilization series . Coordination of turns are subsequently managed by one computer or a centralized server. Further, many mobile games are based on sporadic play and use social interactions with other players , lacking direct player versus player game modes but allowing players to influence other players' games, coordinated through central game servers, another facet of asynchronous play. Online cheating (in gaming) usually refers to modifying

14706-508: Was Fall Guys , who added Among Us -themed skins to their game. Characters from Among Us have made cameos in the indie games Astroneer , Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator , Cosmonious High , Samurai Gunn 2 , and Fraymakers , and Among Us is referenced in several stickers in the game A Hat in Time . In a major update in collaboration with Innersloth , indie developer Triband added characters and 35 Among Us -themed levels to

14835-472: Was "a totally free Amazon server, and it was terrible." This forced him to work quickly, under crunch time , to resolve these issues. In August 2020, Innersloth opened an online store for Among Us themed merchandise. The game's popularity inspired many original songs, fan art and internet memes , Willard expressed that fan-created content "really is the best part" of making Among Us , and Bromander called it "my favorite thing to see". The game popularized

14964-492: Was added in December 2022. There are no meetings or ejections, and a single Impostor (whose identity is known to the Crewmates) attempts to kill all Crewmates within a fixed countdown timer. Crewmates must hide or flee from the Impostor and can complete tasks to roll down the timer, as well as enter vents for a brief time to hide from the Impostor. Impostors cannot perform sabotages or enter vents in this mode. Crewmates are also given

15093-416: Was also believed that "[i]n every case of doubt, where one's salvation is in peril, one must always take the safer way. ... A judge who is in doubt must refuse to judge." It was in reaction to these religious fears that "reasonable doubt" was introduced in the late 18th century to English common law, thereby allowing jurors to more easily convict. Therefore, the original use of the "reasonable doubt" standard

15222-460: Was also considered one of the "Best PC Games for 2018", being ranked 17th, and as the "#38 Best Discussed PC Game of 2018". Since December 2020, IGN considered it one of 2020's best reviewed games so far. Elliott Osange of Bonus Stage considered that the game is "silly fun", but felt that it is more fun "to be an Impostor". Craig Pearson of Rock, Paper, Shotgun had the same opinion, found playing as an Impostor "a lot more fun" than playing as

15351-489: Was deemed "offensive" and "intolerable" by some viewers. The sailor responsible for the stream was later kicked off the team. In October 2020, U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar streamed the game alongside several other prominent streamers such as Pokimane and Hasan Piker as a way to encourage people to vote in the 2020 United States presidential election , drawing almost 700,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch. The game received several mods made by

15480-674: Was frequently cited as a reason for the popularity of Among Us , as it allowed for socializing despite social distancing . Emma Kent of Eurogamer believed that the release of Innersloth's The Henry Stickmin Collection also contributed to awareness of Among Us , and PC Gamer ' s Wes Fenlon credited Twitch streamer SR_Kaif for "prim[ing] Among Us for its big moment." Fenlon also praised Among Us for improvements over other popular tabletop games that had been inspired by Mafia, such as Secret Hitler . He said other video game adaptations of Mafia such as Town of Salem and Werewolves Within were "just add[ing] an online interface for

15609-440: Was implemented along with the update, and it allows players to report players that are not following Innersloth's Code of Conduct in order to make the game a welcoming and respectful place. Punishment includes temporary to permanent bans. They also stated that reports would be viewed manually and not by bots, that account creations would be required if players want to use Free Chat or to customize their nicknames, and that people under

15738-466: Was listed because the seller felt it resembled a Crewmate, and was inspired by a 2017 auction for a Cheeto that looked similar to the gorilla Harambe , which sold for US$ 99,900 . Despite Tav only expecting the nugget to sell for around US$ 50 , a bidding war began two days later, and the nugget was sold to an anonymous buyer for US$ 99,997 . Tav decided to include Szechuan sauce after a comment on social media from Xbox . Several news outlets covered

15867-552: Was opposite to its modern use of limiting a juror's ability to convict. Juries in criminal courts in England and Wales are no longer customarily directed to consider whether there is reasonable doubt regarding a defendant's guilt. A 2008 conviction was appealed after the judge had said to the jury, "You must be satisfied of guilt beyond all reasonable doubt." The conviction was upheld; but the Appeal Court made clear their unhappiness with

15996-464: Was originally given by Marcus Bromander, co-founder of Innersloth, who had played Mafia since he was a kid. In the original game, function cards were dealt and players wandered around a house, aimlessly, while another person secretly killed the players, drawing a finger around their neck. Most of its mechanics were still present in Among Us , but the team wanted to "alleviate the need to create an interesting home model and have someone wandering around in

16125-719: Was released in 2018, it was not until mid-2020 that it saw a surge of popularity, initially driven by content creators online in South Korea and Brazil. Bromander stated that the game is more popular in Mexico, Brazil, and South Korea than in the United States. According to Willard, Twitch streamer Sodapoppin first popularized the game on Twitch in July 2020. Many other Twitch streamers and YouTubers followed suit, including prominent content creators xQc , Pokimane , Shroud , Ninja , MrBeast , Disguised Toast and PewDiePie . The COVID-19 pandemic

16254-474: Was released on December 18, 2023. A simplified variation of Among Us called Hidden Agenda is used in the field of multi-agent reinforcement learning to show that artificial intelligence agents are able to learn a variety of social behaviors, including partnering and voting without need for communication in natural language. On December 28, 2021, H2 Interactive, who publishes Among Us in Japan, announced that

16383-425: Was released on November 10, 2022. Among Us takes place in space-themed settings where players are colorful, armless cartoon astronauts. Each player takes on one of two roles: most are Crewmates, but a small number are Impostors . Crewmates work to complete assigned tasks in the game while identifying and voting out suspected Impostors (who appear identical to Crewmates) using social deduction, while Impostors have

16512-404: Was the buy-to-play PC version that generated 64% of the game's gross revenue. Among Us became one of the best selling games of 2020 on Steam, being listed on the platinum category on "The Year's Top 100" list. The Nintendo Switch version's launch sold 3.2 million digital units in December 2020, making it the highest-earning version of the game for the month and one of the best-selling games on

16641-401: Was to ease a juror's concern about damnation for passing judgment upon a fellow man. Since there is no formal jury instruction that adequately defines reasonable doubt, and based on the origins of the doctrine and its evolution, reasonable doubt may be resolved by determining whether there exists an alternative explanation to the facts seems plausible. If yes, then there is reasonable doubt and

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