Sabotage, betrayal, and murder are disrupting virtual classrooms, and there is little teachers can do to stop it.

Among Us, a casual mobile game where players must complete tasks aboard a starship or sabotage the crew’s efforts as randomly chosen imposters, has suddenly blown up across social media. As it is a free, easily accessible multiplayer game, schools and teachers are struggling with it as students play together during virtual lessons. Some teachers are becoming annoyed with the game.

“I know my students are playing it, and sometimes you can hear it in the background” said Ms. Negron, an English teacher.

Occasionally, students might drop a six character code in the Google Meet chat, which is needed to join an Among Us game, during a virtual lesson, distracting not only themselves, but other students as well. Ms. Negron is not the only teacher struggling with this, as students all over the country are playing the game in class.

“Some do it to ignore work, others just to do something in class while listening to the teacher talk. I think they do this because you don’t really need to focus too much on the game, so you can listen to your teacher while you play,” said sophomore Christopher Moyer.