Red team has advantage in multiplayer gaming

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 12th June 2008
Comments (26) Stumble
According to recent research the Red Team is significantly more awesome than the Blue Team.

According to recent research the Red Team is significantly more awesome than the Blue Team.

Multiplayer gaming has long been battling to be taken seriously as a sport and it looks like the sports statistics gatherers are finally cottoning on as researchers at the University of Copenhagen have just posted the results of a study into trends in multiplayer gaming - the results of which are actually quite interesting.

Researchers from the university recorded over 1,340 games of firm multiplayer favourite Unreal Tournament 2004 and studied how many times each team won in these random battles between Red and Blue.

Oddly, though you'd expect the results to more or less even out in order to reflect the extremely arbitrary nature of team allotment in UT2004 that actually didn't turn out to be the case - the Red team was able to win 55 percent of all victories. In a random sample of this size that 5 percent difference is pretty significant.

What's even more bizarre though is that the researchers note that this correlates well with similar studies in other physical sports, where teams decked out in red typically enjoy a slight advantage over other players.

The boffins of Copenhagen have ventured forth a reason for this, stating that "the color red may act as a psychological distractor for men, possibly because men flush and turn red when they're angry."

If you ask us, that seems like flimsy reasoning. We'd say that the Red Team wins more often because they are awesome - but what do we know? We're colourblind. Let us know your ideas in the forums.
Quote FooTemps 12th June 2008, 09:11
Red always defends cp maps in tf2. Therefore red loses more often than you think!
Quote ch424 12th June 2008, 09:14
8% of men are red/green colourblind. On an outdoor map in a game, I have a lot of difficulty spotting a red player on a green background. When playing rugby (in real life, omg!!), I'm less likely to notice a red player than one in a different colour. I always try to get onto the red team in games like UT, because it makes it much easier to see people to actually shoot them (blue is a really obvious colour to me).

The results of this study (rather than their conclusion) seem fair enough to me.
Quote sub routine 12th June 2008, 09:30
"The boffins of Copenhagen have ventured forth a reason for this, stating that "the color red may act as a psychological distractor for men, possibly because men flush and turn red when they're angry."" WHAT???



the direct conclusion of this research is painfully obvious, people like tomatoes and therefor don`t want to squash red things.

.....an obvious psychological distractor.
Quote liratheal 12th June 2008, 09:31
You know that old-ish theory "It's red - It goes faster!"

Must be some truth behind it :B

However, give me blue any day. Blue is awesome.
Quote Crunch77 12th June 2008, 10:33
Blue sticks out more on a lot of maps, whereas red blends more into the surroundings.
Another good reason for Brightskins.

/me runs
Quote ch424 12th June 2008, 10:34
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunch77
Blue sticks out more on a lot of maps, whereas red blends more into the surroundings.


No, it does to some people. I bet that you and I are the only people in this thread that think blue is a brighter colour than red. To everyone else, they appear about the same.
Quote specofdust 12th June 2008, 10:36
Good news for me. I've always avoided the red team. I hate being on the winning team.
Quote MiNiMaL_FuSS 12th June 2008, 10:45
did you know that muh research demonstrates that red activates the hunger reflex amongst humans, it's thought to be because of the value of obtaining and eating raw meat as a survival mechanism in earlier man. This is why big fast food companies generally incoperate as much red as possible into their logos....Mcdonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut.... just another tit bit.
Quote Crunch77 12th June 2008, 10:47
Quote:
Originally Posted by ch424
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunch77
Blue sticks out more on a lot of maps, whereas red blends more into the surroundings.


No, it does to some people. I bet that you and I are the only people in this thread that think blue is a brighter colour than red. To everyone else, they appear about the same.
Well truthfully I was thinking of UT99 mostly, but I think the same holds true for UT2k4. Perhaps you're right in your assesment, that it seems equal to most, but at least in my case, I've had my eyes/colour sight tested more than once and it was found to be perfect. :)
In UT3 blue to me seems easier to spot, but I suppose this is not the point of the article at all, so I'll just quiet down ;)
Quote iggy2k 12th June 2008, 11:59
RED WUNZ GO FASTA!
Quote DannyDirect 12th June 2008, 14:45
Quote:
Originally Posted by iggy2k
RED WUNZ GO FASTA!

LMFAO, that is some funny ****!
Quote MrMonroe 12th June 2008, 14:50
I'd like to see a CoD4 version of this: do Marines consistently beat out OpFor and SAS the Russians?

I fear, though I have little evidence, that this might be a function of another, more insidious problem: teamstacking.
Quote smoothie 12th June 2008, 15:01
I believe that I've always prefered being on the red team in multiplayer games, from UT to TF(2) to UT3. I prefer Terrorist in CS, simply because the scoreboard displays those names in red. Even when I used to play Delta Force: Land Warrior and Task Force Dagger, where there were red and blue teams but no indicator on players ingame (teammates names were always shown in green) I still prefered the red team.
My username is usually .smoothie though, and I prefer strawberry flavored smoothies to blueberry/raspberry flavored. My name is more appealing when displayed in red, I guess. Even before my username was smoothie, I enjoyed playing on the red team.
I believe that, since red is a color of urgency and passion, it gets you pumped to complete your mission.
Quote Bluephoenix 12th June 2008, 15:06
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrMonroe
I'd like to see a CoD4 version of this: do Marines consistently beat out OpFor and SAS the Russians?

I fear, though I have little evidence, that this might be a function of another, more insidious problem: teamstacking.

In smaller games where sound and stealth is a factor, yes SAS and Marines do indeed have the upper hand

try a 2v2 Sniper match on crossfire, the marines are hard to spot while the opfor has the "red flag 'SHOOT ME NOW!' beret" to quote one of my friends.
Quote Timmy_the_tortoise 12th June 2008, 15:52
In CoD4.. The red team is always MY team.
Quote koola 12th June 2008, 16:37
Luckily I'm only on the red team 50% of the time in BF:BC as the server rotates the player. Kills my KDR though :/
Quote Bluephoenix 12th June 2008, 16:38
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timmy_the_tortoise
In CoD4.. The red team is always MY team.

Aimbot much? :)


(joking, of course)
Quote johnmustrule 12th June 2008, 18:13
I noticed that in TF2 and CSS blue ppl tend to camouflage better in shadows and with stone making it harder to notice them, red also is the most noticed color to our eye's, I think it has something to do with red being an aggressive color.
Quote fathazza 13th June 2008, 01:39
surely if this were true then ginger people would win at life?
Quote B3CK 13th June 2008, 01:55
I am also red/green color blind. And this does have an effect on blues as well. I do tend to try to get on the red team as much as possible because in all honesty, red blends in with the game environment too much for me. A well thought out game, IMHO, will have taken colorblindness into effect. However, I don't hold it against them, it does take that little extra in a game. I will simply play that game less often.
I have noticed that in some maps on cod4 I have an extra hard time picking out targets simply because it takes me longer to realize what they look like. I know it sounds easy, but alot of the time I will not shoot just because I like to play on FF matches, and that extra split second or two can make a huge difference.
Quote fathazza 13th June 2008, 01:59
so does that mean that ye olden british redcoat soldiers would have been perfectly camoflaged in your eyes? ;)
Quote iggy2k 13th June 2008, 02:19
i think their silly hats would still be a giveaway
Quote ch424 13th June 2008, 08:28
Yes, it does!
Quote Timmy_the_tortoise 13th June 2008, 15:11
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluephoenix
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timmy_the_tortoise
In CoD4.. The red team is always MY team.

Aimbot much? :)


(joking, of course)


No, I just had lessons from Fatal1ty. ;)
Quote Omnituens 14th June 2008, 00:12
http://www.steampowered.com/status/tf2/tf2_stats.php

Right at the bottom.
Quote Krikkit 14th June 2008, 00:18
Quote:
Originally Posted by Omnituens
http://www.steampowered.com/status/tf2/tf2_stats.php

Right at the bottom.

All down to map design though - I bet we could all manufacture a map where the red team is guaranteed to lose. :p
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