Finally. Proof that red team roolz. The scientific journal "Cyberpsychology & Behavior" has published the results of a research study, finding that over the course of 1,347 matches of Unreal Tournament 2004, the red team beat the blue team 55% of the time. Yes, this is actually what passes for science now.
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 (70)
Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:02PM Neebs said
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)
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http://www.steampowered.com/status/tf2/tf2_stats.php
(You'll need to scroll some distance to find it)
Posted: Jun 12th 2008 5:28PM busydoinnothin said
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 :\
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But sometimes, the team just sucks ass and loses on either side. See also: my games last night :\
Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:11PM (Unverified) said
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.
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:02PM Ballistic3188 said
red for life!
oh and those who chose pokemon blue instead of pokemon red. In your face! charizard > blastoise
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oh and those who chose pokemon blue instead of pokemon red. In your face! charizard > blastoise
Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:44PM (Unverified) said
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.
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:07PM (Unverified) said
"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
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lol somebody should tell that to the arizona cardinals
Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:09PM MinorHavoc said
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.
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:49PM (Unverified) said
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?
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Does this mean Ken>Ryu? I know Ryu isn't blue but still.
Mario>Sonic?
Periods>Blue Balls?
Posted: Jun 12th 2008 8:43PM (Unverified) said
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.
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:19PM (Unverified) said
Ain't that the damndest thing, I checked my Halo 3 stats from yesterday, 7/8 games I played, the Red team won.
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:18PM (Unverified) said
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.
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:50PM (Unverified) said
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
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 5:04PM (Unverified) said
Clearly this is why Republicans dominate US and communism rules the world...
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 5:08PM SheppyReturns said
I typically blame Nazi Gold for that... but that's because I get to say Nazi and imply evil things upon the ruling power structure...
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 9:17PM PoisonedAl said
If you want to imply evil, just say "Dick Cheney"
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:49PM (Unverified) said
The story focused on Unreal Tournament and you use a Halo pic. You guys make me sick.
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:59PM SheppyReturns said
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.
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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.
Posted: Jun 12th 2008 5:42PM Levi Partridge said
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!
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:35PM (Unverified) said
What is the statistical significance of this "55%"? That number could very well be meaningless unless we see some p-values.
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 5:17PM commyzthatdont said
While I like Blue team better, it seems that, in Halo 3, the better players get put on Red team.
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Posted: Jun 12th 2008 4:50PM (Unverified) said
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.
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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.
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