AOC Takes the Gaming World by Storm

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez garnered widespread attention on October 20th due to her Twitch stream of the hit game Among Us. Ocasio-Cortez, popularly known as AOC, represents New York’s 14th District and is the youngest person currently serving in Congress. AOC has become one of the younger generations’ most beloved politicians due to her reputation for progressiveness and her embrace of pop culture. Her use of Among Us to promote political action points to the importance of video games and other viral media to politics today. 

AOC playing a round of Among Us. Image via.

Innersloth’s hit game Among Us, released in 2018, has skyrocketed in popularity over the past few months, with over 1.5 million players enjoying the game. The game takes the premise of imposters trying to take over a spaceship filled with crewmates. The crewmates are each assigned tasks, such as fixing broken wires or fueling the ship’s engines. The imposters must kill the crewmates without getting caught. They can also distract the crewmates from their tasks by creating sabotages such as shutting off the ship’s oxygen or turning off the lights. The crewmates win by finishing tasks or by voting off the imposters, and the imposters win by killing a majority of the crewmates or by successfully sabotaging the ship. Among Us has become a viral sensation, with TikTok videos using the hashtag #amongus having garnered over 23 billion views. 

One of the many tasks crewmates may be assigned in Among Us. Image via.

Due to the game’s massive popularity, AOC decided to stream herself playing it to encourage viewers to vote. Gathering players such as fellow Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, singer mxmtoon, and streamer Disguised Toast, she took to popular  platform Twitch to stream Among Us. The stream attracted over 400,000 viewers, making it one of the top 20 most viewed streams of all time. It was a huge hit with viewers, with various memes about the stream gaining popularity online. For instance, AOC exclaiming “after everything we’ve been through” in response to being killed in the game has been turned into a popular TikTok audio that has been used over 8,000 times. 

AOC reacts to being selected as an imposter. Image via.

This is not the first time that politicians have interacted with the public through video games. For instance, AOC herself has previously used Animal Crossing: New Horizons to visit her Twitter follower’s islands. Joe Biden’s presidential campaign also recently released a “Biden HQ” island that Animal Crossing players can visit. The island features decorations allowing players to learn more about Biden as well as signage encouraging players to vote. The influence that video games hold due to their importance to pop culture is becoming more recognized, and politicians have begun taking advantage of this influence to encourage more widespread voting. 

An Animal Crossing: New Horizons player visits the Biden HQ island. Image via.

AOC’s Twitch stream is particularly notable because is represents the largest scale at which a political figure has utilized video games to reach the public to date. For better or worse, the nature of politics is changing, and politicians are using new tactics for public engagement. AOC’s Twitch stream represents a new era in which cultural elements previously dismissed as unimportant are now playing a much greater role in politics. It’s interesting to wonder how this will change the direction of politics in the near future. 

Watch the stream here. 

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Feature image via.