[{"content":{"text":"Notebooks open! Mouths closed! Professor Beanbus Percibean Airlock Brian Bumblebean (adjunct) is back and ready to begin this week's lecture.<\/p>"},"id":"1c6c89cc-ecb4-4475-9d12-058f29423ede","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/1ohj6encwssxnf90"],"src":"","alt":"Professor Beanbus Percibean Airlock Brian Bumblebean is a yellow Crewmate bean wearing a powdered wig","caption":"","link":"https:\/\/schellgames.com\/media\/pages\/blog\/among-us-3d-101-hub\/276f04614b-1758284256\/everything-u-need-2-know.png","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"086e4177-ebef-4104-ab05-a8f57286d76a","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"text":"I have been alerted, mostly through the fevered shrieks of the undergraduate populace, that a new mode of play has been introduced into the Among Us 3D <\/em>and Among Us 3D: VR<\/em> environment. They're calling it \"Tag Mode.\" A rather unassuming name for what appears to be a complete de-evolution of the social dynamics of the base game. Whereas the classic format presented a crude listening post of deception and group psychology, this new iteration dispenses with such intellectual frivolities.<\/p>Say ciao to accusations and baseless arguments. In their place, we find a primal, almost Hobbesian struggle. A simple binary of predator and prey, or tagger and tagged. It is, in essence, a digital return to recess on the schoolyard, a regression I find academically fascinating. My preliminary findings on this... phenomenon<\/em>... are as follows.<\/p>"},"id":"759b4a2c-0838-454d-b785-f9afddf7af8c","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h3","text":"The Contagion Paradigm","customid":""},"id":"0e1592e9-0a99-4045-8f20-f5bc40a4caef","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/qdbjpthphatagopc"],"src":"","alt":"Impostor chalk drawing from Among Us 3D","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"d515c395-8ff2-48cb-99d9-4c4dd36013d1","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"text":"The core of this Tag Mode\" is the \"Infected archetype. This is no mere Impostor, mind you. No, this is a mere vector, a mindless agent of contagion whose form is a coagulated, corpulent mass of malignance. <\/p>Its sole purpose is to propagate its own state by physical contact, devouring the unassuming Bean and converting them into another Infected. We witness here a terrifyingly efficient model of viral transmission. The individual is subsumed by the collective goo. There is no debate, no voting, only the inexorable spread of the green pandemic until the Crewmates are overrun.<\/p>"},"id":"38e04404-23b1-46a5-9131-90bf3a872c34","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"text":"Avoid the Infected at all costs<\/li>No votes, sabotages, reports, or Emergency Meetings<\/li>Do tasks to earn unique power ups<\/li>Finish all of your tasks and win<\/li>The Infected win once the entire crew is turned into Infected<\/li><\/ul>"},"id":"68f1120b-0e75-4aa7-868b-4e07817c63e4","isHidden":false,"type":"listBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h3","text":"Resistance: Defensive Stratagems of the Crewmates","customid":""},"id":"dc4ba933-6218-499f-a83c-0bf071451542","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/t7dlahfsbty7oyzg"],"src":"","alt":"The humble Crewmates from Among Us ","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"68884984-960a-450d-b739-e133b86071e5","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"text":"To combat this inexorable inculcation of ooze, the beleaguered Crewmates have a few things going in their favor. First, their agility. Crewmates can easily outrun the Infected, and can buy other teammates precious time by their cat-and-mouse game.<\/p>More importantly, they are granted temporary boons upon the completion of their mundane tasks. These are technological trinkets that offer a fleeting sense of security against the inevitable:<\/p>"},"id":"8f129d31-c6e6-415c-87d6-8c12beaabe0d","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"text":"Vanish:<\/strong> Turn invisible for a short time<\/li>Vent:<\/strong> Use the vents one time<\/li>Protect:<\/strong> Shield a teammate, protecting them from one attack<\/li>Scan:<\/strong> See where The Infected are on your map and which direction they are facing<\/li>Zap:<\/strong> Temporarily stun an Infected<\/li><\/ul>"},"id":"77a4233b-0c34-414b-9585-048549cefee7","isHidden":false,"type":"listBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h3","text":"Addendum: Tactical Analysis","customid":""},"id":"eb565c84-8cd0-4966-b3bf-60b3f519022b","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":"While it is frankly beneath a scholar of my caliber to dispense what amounts to gameplay advice, my research assistants have insisted I include a section on the recurring behaviors exhibited by the more successful participants. I present them here without further comment, as an ethnographic footnote to my more important work.<\/p>"},"id":"0365dc8b-d280-43a7-899d-01d43e1e3706","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/qdr13cnyutccpfku"],"src":"","alt":"Ghost from Among Us 3D","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"ccf7d500-5db9-481a-a069-da42cedaf457","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"text":"For the Infected <\/strong>Ambush Predation via Acoustic Concealment:<\/strong> It has been noted that the Infected specimen achieves a higher success rate by forgoing rapid locomotion in favor of a deliberate, slower gait. This practice allows the entity to approach its targets without the auditory cues that typically signal danger.<\/li><\/ul><\/li>For the Crewmates <\/strong>The Porcupine's Dilemma of Social Proximity:<\/strong> Crewmate subjects demonstrate a marginal increase in survival when clustering in small groups to leverage their collective observation and defensive zap and shield capabilities. Yet, they must maintain enough distance to mitigate the risk of a single Infected specimen causing a cascade contagion event. A simple, almost instinctual, risk-reward calculation.<\/li>Non-Euclidean Traversal for Maximized Labor Efficiency:<\/strong> The aforementioned use of the vents appears to be a cornerstone of effective Crewmate strategy. Rather than using them simply for panicked egress, the proficient player utilizes them to navigate the map with an efficiency that borders on the chaotic, completing disparate tasks with bewildering speed to accumulate their technological trinkets.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>"},"id":"2e05964e-bce3-499a-b4ce-b56332b18ab5","isHidden":false,"type":"listBlock"},{"content":{"text":"I have been asked if I can put that in layBean's terms...fine! Why study when you can just prep the cheat sheet? Don't blame me when you're covered in goo. Here's the sparknotes of how to tip the scales in your favor:<\/p>"},"id":"0bbf0e81-8d32-445b-9669-890a38354461","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"text":"Infected have a short cooldown after they Infect a Crewmate. Use this opportunity to run past them<\/li>All vents are in Tag Mode are connected...use them to cover a ton of distance quickly<\/li>Use your scan, then plan your path in advance to get to your next task and power-up<\/li>Walk as The Infected to mask your squishy footsteps and maximize the jump scares<\/li>Make the game yours. Use custom lobby settings to change up speed, cooldown, number of tasks to win, and the number of starting Infected<\/li><\/ul>"},"id":"62a831da-3f0d-404e-8483-44c869b14c7f","isHidden":false,"type":"listBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h3","text":"Yes, This Will Be on the Exam","customid":""},"id":"4dfdc892-d11c-456b-8ecd-f23b578894ab","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":"In conclusion, Tag Mode represents a fundamental shift from a game of psychological warfare to one of base survival. It strips away the veneer of civilization and exposes the raw, panicked instincts underneath. It is a fascinating, if noisy, experiment in group dynamics under the duress of a spreading contagion.<\/p>Now, attend to your studies, while I work towards my scientific goal of classifying the socio-economic implications of the Polus Point map layout, and more importantly win lots of scholarly awards for doing so. Class dismissed.<\/p>"},"id":"012de2b6-137f-417e-b86b-3f9da5944d3f","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"}]