Scientists find red team is better than blue team (seriously)
One neuroscientist reasons that the slight red team advantage may be psychological, as the color red could prove distracting to men, "possibly because men flush and turn red when they're angry." As silly as that sounds, the study parallels a similar one performed in 2005, where it was found that wearing red in real-life one-on-one sporting events increased the likelihood of victory.
Acknowledging the findings of the research, Epic Games VP Mark Rein said they won't be changing the classic multiplayer colors of Unreal Tournament anytime soon. At least now you have an excuse for losing all the time, right blue team?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Moorio - XBL: peacebyanymeans @ Jun 12th 2008 4:00PM
Goddamnit, Blue Team. Get it together!
Vcize @ Jun 12th 2008 4:01PM
Hmmmm, so if we always play on the Blue team we can blame it on our shirt color when we lose?
That provides a nice alternative to blaming it on lag to throw into the arsenal of reasons the loss was not your fault.
Tristan @ Jun 12th 2008 4:01PM
If they had studied 10 less games, I would find this more convincing
Fred @ Jun 13th 2008 10:23AM
Ha. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back.
Tristan @ Jun 13th 2008 10:54AM
I am in a constant state of back patage
Neebs @ Jun 12th 2008 4:02PM
This is not untrue. Even in Team Fortress 2 blue seems to have a disadvantage.
http://www.steampowered.com/status/tf2/tf2_stats.php
(You'll need to scroll some distance to find it)
Alistair judson @ Jun 12th 2008 4:36PM
True i noticed that aswell
busydoingnothing @ Jun 12th 2008 5:28PM
But in Team Fortress 2, you have the Red team defending and the Blue team attacking. In my opinion, it takes a more skilled and organized blue team to win than it takes a skilled and organized red team to win; in other words, red can usually get by with little organization, whereas it takes a well organized and well concentrated attack for the blue team to win.
But sometimes, the team just sucks ass and loses on either side. See also: my games last night :\
Neebs @ Jun 12th 2008 5:49PM
Even if the team doing the attack/defend thing was correct (It isn't! You switch between games), it still doesn't say anything about 2fort.
mr mobius @ Jun 12th 2008 6:16PM
Same reason that in UK 8 ball pool, it is better to get playing the red balls. Colour psychology can have a big difference on people.
E.J. @ Jun 12th 2008 10:25PM
I don't want to be dead. I want to be alive... or, a cowboy.
Catprog @ Jun 13th 2008 3:21AM
(It isn't! You switch between games)
But don't you switch colours also.
Neebs @ Jun 13th 2008 6:32AM
No.
finnith @ Jun 12th 2008 4:02PM
These scientists are noobs. Everyone knows that Blue TEam is much better, RvB proved that.
&rew @ Jun 12th 2008 4:11PM
On RVB the red team killed the blue team way more then the red team was killed by the blue team, or at least the red team watched them die anyways, ergo red team= better.
ballistic3188 @ Jun 12th 2008 4:02PM
red for life!
oh and those who chose pokemon blue instead of pokemon red. In your face! charizard > blastoise
Fernando Rocker @ Jun 12th 2008 4:04PM
lol
=p
mr mobius @ Jun 12th 2008 6:18PM
My hydropump could KO you in 1 hit. Amateur. Blastoise > Charizard > Venosaur
Boffo the Sock @ Jun 12th 2008 4:04PM
Meanwhile, there is still no cure for cancer.
Fernando Rocker @ Jun 12th 2008 4:05PM
Another lol
=p
makishima @ Jun 12th 2008 4:44PM
All I have to say to that is, if you want the people who did this study to be in charge of finding a cure for cancer you are going to be sorely dissapointed when they come back to you and hand over a study that proclaims that out of 12,417 cancer patients, 55% did not die during the study, therefore time is the cure for cancer. Thanks for the millions is research grants.
j.howlett @ Jun 12th 2008 4:54PM
i had my ps3 working on the cure this weekend
zenclay @ Jun 12th 2008 4:07PM
"t was found that wearing red in real-life one-on-one sporting events increased the likelihood of victory"
lol somebody should tell that to the arizona cardinals
Vidikron (FU) @ Jun 12th 2008 5:14PM
That's not a one-on-one sport.
Vcize @ Jun 12th 2008 6:40PM
"that's not a one on one sport"
Unless you're arguing about who the best quarterback of all-time is, because then all that most people care about is which one won the most Super Bowls....by himself.
MinorHavoc @ Jun 12th 2008 4:09PM
Well color me surprised. I always thought the red team usually stood out better from the background and easier to spot. The blue team tended to blend into the shadows in most of the maps.
Jack @ Jun 12th 2008 4:49PM
Thats exactly what I was thinking. Red sticks out more so I figured they'd get shot more.
Does this mean Ken>Ryu? I know Ryu isn't blue but still.
Mario>Sonic?
Periods>Blue Balls?
Sean Newton @ Jun 12th 2008 8:43PM
In NTSC standard definition TV sets, highly saturated reds actually bleed more and thus the red guys are gonna be blurrier at a distance. This is kinda moot when you're talking about monitors or component inputs or HDTV (and certainly moot outside of consoles), but it does apply somewhat to SD video.
Austin @ Jun 12th 2008 4:18PM
I have to play Red because I'm red-green color blind. The blue stands out. Given that 7-10% of the male population is colorblind, this may be a unresearched factor.
makishima @ Jun 12th 2008 4:50PM
Thats actually an interesting theory. I wonder if they took that sort of data into account. Based solely on the random # of games they used I'm going to have to say no. Still great point though
prah89 @ Jun 12th 2008 4:19PM
Ain't that the damndest thing, I checked my Halo 3 stats from yesterday, 7/8 games I played, the Red team won.
Fa1kor @ Jun 12th 2008 4:21PM
BS study. The case number would have to be significantly bigger for it to hold meaning. I am sure the bigger the number, the closer the percentage would be in the middle. I wonder if they took into account other factor?
Seroth @ Jun 12th 2008 4:21PM
I always prefer being on the blue team...I also lose often.
Of course! It makes perfect sense now!
jas0nuk @ Jun 12th 2008 4:26PM
...this doesn't prove shit! 55% is only 5% more than a completely equal number of victories for both teams.
In the same way, if you flip a coin 1000 times, you aren't guaranteed to get 500 heads and 500 tails.
Stupid useless research -_-.
Catprog @ Jun 13th 2008 3:41AM
According to my calculations
1000 coin flips
more then 530 heads(53% heads) : 3% chance
more then 540 heads(54% heads) : 1% chance
more then 545 heads(54.5% heads) : >1% chance
So this is significant
Nicholas Sulikowski @ Jun 12th 2008 4:29PM
Better dead than Red!
sexycommando @ Jun 12th 2008 4:35PM
What is the statistical significance of this "55%"? That number could very well be meaningless unless we see some p-values.
Catprog @ Jun 13th 2008 3:45AM
According to my calculations
1000 coin flips (50% chance of heads/tail lose/win)
more then 530 heads(53% heads) : 3% chance
more then 540 heads(54% heads) : 1% chance
more then 545 heads(54.5% heads) : >1% chance
So this is significant
Irresponsible Robot @ Jun 12th 2008 4:36PM
Bluetard!
Phillip @ Jun 12th 2008 4:41PM
1,347. Are you serious?! That was the sample size?!
Try more like 10,000 and then I might be a little more convinced.
SadExchange @ Jun 12th 2008 4:50PM
That was the entire population of people that still play Unreal Tournament :x
On a more serious note, 5% is still significant, it may not be as accurate as say, 10,000 individuals but it still shows an obvious lean towards one side.
Lone Starr @ Jun 12th 2008 5:33PM
I think they had ten too many.
Neebs @ Jun 12th 2008 5:49PM
1000 is actually a good sample size.
Catprog @ Jun 13th 2008 3:45AM
According to my calculations
1000 coin flips (50% chance of heads/tail lose/win)
more then 530 heads(53% heads) : 3% chance
more then 540 heads(54% heads) : 1% chance
more then 545 heads(54.5% heads) : >1% chance
So this is significant
Mr.ESC @ Jun 12th 2008 4:47PM
Are you sure it was for the color not the fact Caboose screwed it?
JonFitt @ Jun 12th 2008 5:23PM
I'd like to see the results for the relative TKs.
Blues are always shooting each other in the head.
Thomas Cushard @ Jun 12th 2008 4:49PM
The story focused on Unreal Tournament and you use a Halo pic. You guys make me sick.
Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ Jun 12th 2008 4:59PM
I'm sure it was an experiment of their own. They KNEW using a Halo pic would not be related in any fashion and so would drag out the "I h8 H470Z" fucktards so they could line up all the idiots and kill em all without having to change a clip...
Or it could be the term Red vs. Blue has much more attachment to Halo than any other series thanks to the uber popular Rooster Teeth machinima series.
Levi @ Jun 12th 2008 5:42PM
Probably because they have a hard on for Red vs. Blue. I was going to ask the same thing. Why is there a Halo pic when the researcher used Unreal for the study? FAIL!
&rew @ Jun 12th 2008 5:01PM
Does that mean that things with red blood are better then things with blue blood, take that covenant elites and those wierd australian fish with three hearts and blue blood!