Among Us Has Become A Gay Phenomenon
It has long been argued that once something becomes popular in the way Among Us has – and still is – it’ll quickly gain a fandom. And with fandom comes the shipping, and with the shipping comes the gay shipping. Among Us has quickly proven that it fits the gay mould, with fanart and fanfiction of these little bean astronauts being pretty easy to find on social media like Twitter, Reddit, and Tumblr.
Just like Animal Crossing, gay fandom has taken Among Us – a quirky game where players are pit against one another to either find the imposter, or kill as many people as possible – under their wing to create a world of queer delight and sensation. Why? It’s simple.
“I think it’s a combination of the pandemic having made us all super horny, super sad, and just super bored.” Among Us player SinBin tells me through Discord messages. Which, let’s be honest, is a very fair statement to make once you consider the amount of thirst that’s still being thrown at Animal Crossing characters.
But that would be giving the gay community that surrounds this game far too little credit. While we don’t know the exact nature of what the imposter is, the fact that tentacles are involved should be enough to tell you that, uh, some find the possibilities of that very intriguing!
Joking aside, our community has often been derided as something monstrous – something to be scared of. We’re included in gothic novels as something strange, maybe mysterious, and it works because these novels are meant to scare, as well as intrigue. Some may find that off-putting. But others have embraced the reputation of inherent queerness in the unnatural, and have taken fun in loving and/or queering the monsters in the media we consume. In doing so, we change the narrative into something else and it’s firmly in our control.
That’s why Among Us is such a natural choice for gay fandom to latch onto. Outside of it being a multiplayer game that any ages can play, the premise of Among Us is fascinating – a group of astronauts trying to keep a ship alive, while a monster sits and waits to devour because it has no other choice. It’s something that stories can easily be shaped around it, which already has happened if the fanfiction is anything to go off on…
Among Us is a gay as heck and is the newest in the long line of gay phenomenon’s in video games. I can’t help but wonder just what’ll be next.
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