Game Theory in Among Us
Over quarantine the game “Among Us” reached peak popularity because people played with their friends remotely and it was a fun bonding experience. Many popular memes also originated from the game such as imposter and red vented. The Among Us gameplay is when players are divided into crewmates and imposters. The goal of the imposter is to kill most of the crewmates and the goals of the crewmates are to vote out the imposters or finish all of their tasks. Since both imposters and crewmates want to win the game, we can figure out the dominant strategy for each type of player. There are two strategies that imposters can play, which are to kill crewmates and to sabotage crewmate tasks. Additionally, the two strategies that crewmates can play which are completing their tasks and voting out the imposter. In order to determine the dominant strategy for each player, Kaustubh created a payoff matrix that looks like this:
To find the dominant strategy for the crewmate and the imposter, we can check for the payoffs for each strategy for each player. When the imposter sabotages, the best response for the crewmate is to complete their task (with a payoff of 6). The best response for the crewmate when the imposter kills another crewmate is to vote for kills (with a payoff of 5). Since there is no dominant strategy for crewmates, we can find the dominant strategy for imposters. The best response for imposters when a crewmate completes a task, is to kill another crewmate. Adding on, the best response for imposters when a crewmate starts to vote for the imposter is to sabotage crewmates. There is also no dominant strategy for imposters.
The results from the payoff matrix are representative of the actual gameplay. There isn’t a single best strategy that imposters and crewmates can play. In order to win the game, they have to choose their strategy, whether to sabotage or to kill, depending on the context of the game. Since the game is highly dynamic, there is no one strategy that we can expect each player to play.
Link: Among Us and Game Theory. A game-theoretic explanation for Among… | by Kaustubh