@CarbonFalcon:

I always concluded that Allies in COD4 are keen to win deathmatch games simply because you can't always see them, vs. the "other guys" who are decked out in red or black.

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

@alecpyron: Good point, sounds like a massive waist of money...
@freakout: I totally just copied you.

DeathBeforeDishonor

Interesting this. I kind of wrote a mini-essay one time on Bungie.net explaining how blue has the advantage in nearly all multiplayer maps because it camoflages slightly more. Personally, I would have to say it varies shooter by shooter, depending on the general tones of the maps. (In Halo 3, more maps have draker overtones, giving blue a slight advantage most of the time because of the contrast, not to say that some maps didn't give red the advantage...)

I'm going to have to call bull on this. The only true way to test would be to play countless games of a multiplayer fps on a map that was a white box. That would be the only way to tell for sure, but it would also be boring as hell. The limited sample size (only UT2004) ruins the validity of these findings.

CarbonFalcon

this doesn't seem to amazing. 55% could still be coincidence.

DeathBeforeDishonor

Yeah! I had heard about the whole red win theory.Some group of scientists concluded that people wearing red shirts/clothes,etc were doing better than their peers in exams and competitions. It supposedly induces the wearer to secrete more testosterone in the wearer while suppressing it in the observer.
Guess who is always wearing red for their college exams?! :p

harshakamikaze

@Spenze: Nah: the logic is that on some subconscious level, you will think twice about attacking a red player, 'cause they just might be a complete psychopath. Whereas attacking some blue pussy doesn't raise any primal, animal instinct - except maybe "ooo, easy kill!"

Interesting theory, but can't say I've noticed it in Halo. Then again 55/45 isn't a massive difference...

freakout

@Maldron:
Sure it is. Forget faulty testing, missing variables, and other core items to the statistical method. These are TRUE statistics!

SpishackCola

Another well used research funds! Humanity will live better after this discovery.

alecpyron

Hmm..My theory is the more aggressive people would choose red, and in Unreal, an aggressive nature is the key to winning.

I bet you in Counterstrike, the terrorists win more, and use more hacks.
In tactical games, it depends on other factors, so you wouldn't notice the same effect.

And no, joining the red team won't make you a better player.

Palladium

That's really cool man; but the swing will be even bigger tonight when gamers hear this and start friggin' stacking!

syl1985

I think I would like to work as a researcher at a University. I mean, so long as one of us discovers something useful every once in a while, the rest of us can publish reports on absolute bullshit while hitting on young ladies going for their Bachelor's degree.

In any case, I find that Red is usually the host's team and the host normally has a bunch of people he plays with regularly with some well-defined team strategies while Blue is normally reserved for the random passerby who's looking for a quick twitch fix.

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

THAT IS NOT HOW STATISTICS WORK.

Maldron

Never apply this to Uber Smash Bros. Brawl. If you bet on red on spectator mode, you'll lose.

Green-clad Gamer Dude

This sort of reminds me of that idea that throughout history the army with the more fancy uniform tends to loose.
I wonder if this is connected to why so many countries use red in their flags. ^_^

Guild_Navigator

Um... by that logic wouldn't blue team win more?

Spenze

TF2 > UT2k4 - Coming from an ex UT player :p
But yeah, I think it'd be better if they recorded the results of more than just UT because it would be more accurate a descriptor for ALL games.

Mustakrakish

This is cool, since I have an uncanny tendency of joining the losing team.

dalejn

I guess it's true...

RED MAKES YA GO FASTA AND BE THE BIGGEST AND THE BADDEST.

Keldan

Tell that to Team Fortress 2.

ModernGamer

@pine22: This is something of a big if, but given a *sufficiently randomized* sample, about 1500 is all you need for a 3 percent margin of error with a confidence of 95% or so. Now, granted, 3% does bring the number super close to 50%, but 1300-1500 is a pretty standard sample size.

Malyonsus

@(俗・ ) Grey Gecko: If you choose purple? Angry, fluffy clouds.

Ahsayuni

The blue team obviously does worse because Caboose is on the blue team.

kojirodensetsu

1347 sounds like a rather small sample size....the more games they look at the closer to 50/50 its gonna be.

pine22

...

I dunn get it

How come the Soviet Union died? wasn't Red it's main color?

Also what if I choose purple? (generally speaking) or if everyone is color blind?

(俗・ ) Grey Gecko

I think it's probably because you're seeing red, red is just a colour that indicates dominance in nature and so the blue guys are the red guys' bitches.

Mustakrakish

@Ultrasinc: The fluffy clouds bit, thats me, not science

Luke Plunkett

LoL, WTF?? I always play on the blue team, cause it's my favorite color!!!

yoshinatsu

Agreed, according to the results the blue team should win. Excellent research!

Guile0

Wait... i read that last reason... If that were the case, shouldn't blue be winning?

Like it's the blue team that's always seeing red, so blue thinks "KILL KILL KILL"

While the red team is always seeing blue, so red thinks "blue skies, fluffy clouds and lazy days"

That is, unless we're talking about third person games

Ultrasinc

Explains why I rock everyone in every game I play. *hint* soviets are red *hint*

sovietspartan

From my Halo 3 experience, being the red team puts you at a huge disadvantage. It ensures you stand out like a sore thumb, especially on snowy maps.

nlangan

I know it's a big pool being drawn from, but I think I'd be a little more surprised if it was more than a five percent spread.

Actually, I think I'd be more surprised if it really was a flat 50-50.

sir_carrot

Then why the hell did the Chief's go 4-12 last season?.....

cmonty06

@Ahsayuni: D=

Angry, Bloody, fluffy clounds?

AWESOME

(俗・ ) Grey Gecko

@Malyonsus: As an addendum, I guess Luke didn't read it this way, but I thought that "red acts as a psychological distractor" meant that it distracts (detrimentally) the team opposing them. That is to say, the opposing team is distracted by the red, while the red team maintains a calmer, collected plan.

Malyonsus

@dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased: Exactly my thought. Red tends to be the default for the host, at least in every shooter I can think of. Plus there's the classic "host advantage" wherein the host not only has no lag and sometimes the ability to kick players, but the host will be familiar with the map and gametype they have chosen as well.

mhlaxp

I bet the margin of error is something like 5% making it...HOLY SHIT 50%!!! or 60 but thats just crazy talk.

Guttlesswonder

I have been saying this since day one. And I'm not even kidding.

KrsJin

@mhlaxp:
Not sure how console shooters are, but PC shooters have been running on the dedicated server thing for eons. I assume that a study like this would only look at the big, public, dedicated servers anyways.

Providence

@Green-clad Gamer Dude: The on the vast majority of the stages in brawl (esp final destination), blue is crazy camouflaged, and red is super-visible.

I imagine that with the wide variety of browns that modern game engines render for us, red is the hard one to see in FPSes.

GenericKen

Yes, this is bull, like an actually fracking bulls charge red urban legend type of bull. Apparently in Denmark being a Neuroscientist is just a fluff job.

Fraidnot

Yeah, I'd also say it's because red's harder to see. Especially since roughly 1 in 10 men are colourblind.

hlouw

bullshit. Red screams "ENEMY" to me.

somarix

Half the time when I'm red I accidentally shoot my own teammates because it's so ingrained into me that "red" = "enemy".

dowingba

Any true RTS master would know that choosing red = fail as they can spot your little ninja units on the minimap from a mile away. Yellow or Green colours ftw (especially in aoe2).

suntorytime

"Science"? My name is Shiryu and I am forever Blue! Just like my nearly 10 year old clan, whose colors are black and blue!

[cdp.no.sapo.pt]

Shiryu

This is science for the sake of getting published... bad science.

Anyway, [www.steampowered.com] (go to bottom for good times).

ThaiGrocer

@dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased:

Yep, when I was going through university I met one mathematician who was doing his PhD on "The Mathematical Formulae Behind the Movement and Structure of the Human Female Breast".

I'm sure it has useful real world application somewhere apart from DoA body physics.

"It's science!"

Cwn

UT2k4 is one of the best multiplayer FPS I ever played. I played it very religiously. Now I definitely need to agree that Red does seem to win more of its matches. When players join a game, even if the teams are balanced in terms of number, red will always be the first team to gain an extra member and if blue loses a member due to leaving or whatever, the advantage grows bigger with Red. Also in Assault mode since Red gets to go first and when Red goes first and has some skilled players, they usually finish with some unholy times that blue cannot even have a chance to win.

Para

@Luke Plunkett: No shit? You make clouds?

That's just awesome.

Harrison20

In other news, researchers have discovered that astoundingly, correlation does, in fact, equal causation.

Narsil

Red is much more intimidating.

Zodduska

I dunno, i believe this. I typically pick red whenever i am playing games, and i am the ruling overlord of videogames on high.

P3nnst8r

In the currently happening European Soccer Championship it has been seen that so far EVERY team wearing red has lost every match during which they wore the color.

Austria, Switzerland and Turkey while wearing their red national outfits.

Yesterday Switzerland was eliminated from the tournament while wearing red, they were defeated by Turkey who were wearing their white/mint away-colors.

Blue_Six

This actually holds true for most competitions. What's really interesting, is this is even more pronounced when there are judges involved (like boxing).

worsethannormal

@hlouw: That's a good point as well. On a green jungle map, red is probably pretty hard to see to someone who is red-green colorblind. On the other hand, a lot of maps tend to make red stick out much more than blue (particularly snow levels).

I never got why they don't just have an option to choose what color enemies and allies appear on your screen, regardless of what team they are on. That would completely eliminate color advantages, as well as stopping those stupid mistakes where you shoot an ally because you're used to being on the other team.

Tiber

@dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased: that would result in a much better spread than 55 to 45.

SwindleUK

This reminds me of one of my favorite jokes. The commander of a small infantry unit is interrupted in his tent by one of his lieutenants, who rushes in saying "Commander, there's a few squads worth of enemy troops marching over the horizon We need to do something now!"

The Commander looks at him and says, "Fetch me my red shirt, and we'll face them in battle!" The Commander dons his red shirt, his troops face the enemy and defeat them without casualty.

The next day, the Lieutenant rushes in and reports, "Several more squads are coming! They've got an artillery unit with them, what do we do?"

The Commander responds diligently, "Fetch me my red shirt! We'll march against them and hand them defeat!" Once again, they face the enemy and crush them without sustaining any casualties.

The Lieutenant finally asks the commander, "Every time we face the enemy, you ask for your red shirt, and I've never understood why."

The Commander replies, "It's because if I am injured it would demoralize my men to see me bleed. To this day, as a consequence I've never lost a man." Word spreads of the Commander's bravery and conviction, and the troops are more inspired than ever.

On the morning of the next day, the Lietenant bursts in, red shirt in hand and exclaims, "Commander, we've got a serious problem. There are two enemy platoons coming our way, five hostile tanks on the horizon, and threatening air support inbound! I've brought your red shirt, are we to face them?"

The Commander's face pales and he replies, "The red shirt won't do, Lieutenant. Bring me my brown pants!"

TheRockingDead

I think next time i play BF 2142 I'll have to try playing on the red team... oh wait...

statistics and interpreting numbers is tricky and easily skewed...
I doubt the psychological reasoning. In playing UT2k4 it more had to do with what color showed up better on the map. I wonder if they took such details into account.

Ehardergardens

@TheRockingDead:
LOL, best joke I've ever read.

Akira119

So, Horde are OP? OMG!!

Sawboss

I hate red. It screams "HERE I AM!!!! SNIPE ME! SNIPE ME!

xinic5

@CarbonFalcon

It is not only the fact that the contrast is higher, but red is scientifically known to be the easiest color to be seen by the human eye. That is why traffic lights and stop signs are red.

canes50

LOL, you know what?? I swear, back in the Quake2 days, I was always more motivated on red team. I kid you not. Strange.

SmokeFemur

What are the variables in this study? Do the teams change after every match trying to balance out? Do they let the people inside the games chose their team every time? Are they taking a look at multiple servers with different players in a majority of the games?

Either way, the number of games they look at is low. You can flip a coin 1,300 times and get heads 60% of the time, its possible, but if you flip a coin 1,000,000 times the chances are the percentages are going to be a lot closer to 50/50.

Grecaun

[steampowered.com]

Scroll down there and you can see that in TF2 red does win slightly more. Just make sure you look at symmetrical maps like well, granary, badlands, etc.

sircod

colors do have their "assigned" mood.

Tychonius

@ModernGamer:
[www.steampowered.com]

With the exception of gravelpit, red wins most of the time.

rbleader

@ModernGamer: [www.steampowered.com]

It knows already. With the exception of a slight preference toward BLU victories on cp_gravelpit, RED has a clear slight advantage going on.

Cerbo

@(俗・ ) Grey Gecko: Chinese used up all the red color in that hemisphere so the Soviet Union collapsed after all those MGS3 shenanigans.

sovietspartan