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.
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.
RELATED ARTICLES
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review
October 14 2021 | 15:04
Want to comment? Please log in.