Scientists find red team is better than blue team (seriously)

by Scott Jon Siegel { Jun 12th 2008 at 3:55PM }

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?

Tags: research, science, unreal-tournament-2004, ut2k4

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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.

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.

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

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!

auroragb @ Jun 12th 2008 5:04PM

Clearly this is why Republicans dominate US and communism rules the world...

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ Jun 12th 2008 5:08PM

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...

Poisoned Al @ Jun 12th 2008 9:17PM

If you want to imply evil, just say "Dick Cheney"

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.