As the pandemic continues to spread around the world, people are still trying to cope with prolonged isolation from friends and family for safety. Therefore, it makes sense that an online video game centered around social skills would become the most popular game of the year.
Enter Among Us. The game, developed by Innersloth, was released in 2018 to moderate success with a somewhat steady player base. Then, late in the summer of 2020, streamers on Twitch and YouTube started to play and the game’s popularity exploded.
The appeal of Among Us is in its simplicity. Players assume the role of crewmates on a spaceship or planetary base. Their goal is to complete simple tasks, like turn on the power. However, there are impostors amongst the crewmates. These impostors are trying to kill everyone on the ship without being discovered. Crewmates win when all the tasks are completed or when all the imposters have been ejected from the ship. Imposters win when all the crewmates are dead.
As Catholics, we often look to the saints as models for virtue. So, what would the Saints think of a game centered around lying and betrayal? More importantly, how would a Saint play Among Us?
There are no moral quandaries when one is playing as a crewmate. One is simply trying to complete tasks and find out the imposters’ true identities. When one plays as the impostor is when things become morally ambiguous.
Scripture is very clear about speaking untruthfully. One of the Ten Commandments is “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). In the New Testament, Christ reiterates this law by instructing “Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’” (Matthew 5:37). However, when these general laws are applied to specific scenarios the right action becomes blurry.
When the early Church Fathers were experiencing persecution, the question of truth-telling rose to the forefront of ethical debate. Bishops were hiding the locations of Christians and the scriptures. Roman guards would often interrogate these bishops, asking for them to give up these locations. Could one lie to these persecutors to save their fellow Christians?
The early Church Fathers defined lying as intentionally speaking untruth to one who is owed the truth. Hence, one is called not to lie to one’s friend, since they are owed the truth. The Romans intended to use the truth to commit harm, meaning they were not owed the truth. Using this definition, one could say that one’s opponent in a video game is not owed the truth, making lying as an impostor in Among Us acceptable.
St. Thomas Aquinas has a question of his Summa Theologiae devoted to defining the sin of lying (2.2.110). Lying is generally defined as telling a falsehood with the intention of deceiving (2.2.110.1.c). The object of this action, as well as the gravity of the falsehood, are what separate lying as a mortal sin and a venial sin. Regardless, all lies are considered sins by Aquinas. Nonetheless, Aquinas finds that “it is lawful to hide the truth prudently, by keeping it back” (2.2.110.3.a4). Avoiding telling the truth is admissible, so long as someone doesn’t speak mistruth.
A major motif in Thomistic philosophy is that circumstances help inform the morality of an act. Lying to one’s friends in everyday life is sinful, but in a virtual world where everyone is playing a character these actions are fine. Sin is fun, or the human will would not be drawn to it. Therefore, we construct games of deception, forming a virtual reality where the gravity of lying is insignificant.
It has been established that deception games like Among Us are morally acceptable, but how about the saintly strategy? Forgoing the caveats that this game is a virtual reality, how could one play Among Us using Aquinas’ definition of lying?
The Saintly Strategy
Crewmate: Be a diligent worker, like a Trappist monk. Do your tasks, as these will also provide an alibi. Also, seek the truth like a good Thomist. Follow suspicious individuals.
Imposter: When interrogated, you must tell the truth about where you were. All you have to do is prudently avoid the truth that you killed someone. You can also self-report the bodies you kill. Simply say “I found a dead body.” This is not a lie, just avoid telling them how the body was killed in the first place. You also have false tasks in the upper left corner. Just say that you were instructed to do these tasks, as that is also technically not a mistruth.
Featured image: original drawing by Patrick Stallwood for THE TORCH
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Interesting. A two more thoughts:
– One practical side effect of playing these games is learning to detect if people are being deceitful, which is better learned in a game environment (with no consequences) rather than learning in a real-life situation (with consequences!)
– I wonder if lying in game may build a habit of lying outside the game? Probably depends on one’s ability to isolate acting in a game from reality, which varies person-to-person. One way to avoid this (when you’re playing with people you know) is to have a house rule such as “never directly ask if someone killed someone” or similar.