Forget Valor, Instinct, and Mystic,
Where's my Team Rocket option?
*Dun dun DUN!*
Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!
*Game theory intro plays*
Hello Internet, welcome to Game Theory, where not even I can tell you how the stats work in Pokemon Go.
Seriously, it's like a theory onto itself!
There are so many hidden mechanics in this game!
In addition to the unchangeable base stats that are completely invisible to the player,
as of last week, it was just determined that "Attack Duration," is another huge variable in this system.
Because why would we ever need to know stuff like this in order to play a game to maximum effect, right!?!
#Sarcasm
But if I can be serious for a moment, recent game play changes, like the removal of footprints,
making the game infuriatingly random, and more fleeing and escaping at upper levels,
which just reeks of wanting players to spend more money on poké balls,
while major bugs still exist in this game, is turning Go nearly unplayable.
So Niantic, just stop it. You have an incredible thing here.
THE largest mobile game in history, and one that people don't hate.
So don't squander the good will we've given you. We can play a broken game for only so long.
We can only lose so many newly hatched pokémon. before we get frustrated and give up!
We want you, we want this game... to succeed.
So PLEASE, pay attention and communicate with your community!
Alright! Let me get off my soap box, since those were all potential meta theories for another day.
Let's, instead, talk about happier things since today, it's time to finish our discussion about the three teams in Pokémon Go,
and what the team YOU'RE on, says about you as a person.
Last time, we talked about how user interfaces, the Bandwagoning effect and the competitive theory of colors
all had their role in Team Mystic claiming a whopping forty-three percent of the game's total user base.
So if you haven't seen that one, click over here to 'Catch 'em all.'
Or... really... just that one video. But today I want to focus on the personality element of the team rivalries.
Because in my Poké Poll for you guys, over thirty percent of you said, specifically, that you chose your Pokémon team
because it aligned best with your personality. And an additional eleven percent said that the team matched your play style.
So, clearly, there are a lot of you out there who openly felt a personal connection with the motto and ethics of your Pokémon team.
But how right WERE you? Does the science back up your team choice?
Can someone truly get a sense of your personality, JUST by knowing what Pokemon Go team your on?
Surprisingly, yes. A seemingly meaningless choice of team and color in Pokemon Go,
whether intentional or not, says a lot about how your brain works and how you interact with the world around you.
Here's what I managed to find out, with all of your help. First off, I want you to make a hypothesis.
What do you think the gender differences were? Do you think girls were more likely to chose one team over another because of color?
Or guys that choose a certain team because one of their friends also did?
Well, in an incredibly surprising twist, guys and girls... showed practically no differences
in the reasoning behind why they chose the teams that they were on.
Which just goes to show that female and male gamers are a lot more alike than people often assume.
For both guys and girls, eighteen percent chose because a friend was on the same team.
Six percent because they thought the team would provide them a strategic advantage.
And eleven percent chose because it aligned with their play style.
The only major differences here, was that thirty-three percent of girls picked their team based on a personality match,
compared to only twenty-six for guys. And more guys, nineteen percent, chose based on team color,
as opposed to only fifteen percent for girls. But even THOSE results are incredibly close.
It's also notable for all you theorists out there who are single and ready to mingle,
that Mystic is the team with the most females, over forty percent, while Valor and Instinct were both closer to thirty percent.
So go out there, and use that info to capture yourself... a date, if you know what I mean.
And it's actually fairly self explanatory what I mean. Go out... and find a date, using that info.
"Sup girl. I heard you like Team Mystic. Wanna swing by my place so I can show you my big... brain?"
*In a high pitched, girly voice* "Oh yeah! Show me that big brain of yours!"
Now, truly loyal theorists will remember another theory we did about the game 'Life is Strange,'
where we used the Myers-Briggs test to find out more about the personality breakdown of gamers watching this channel.
As a quick refresher, the test puts a person into one of sixteen personality types, based on a four letter combination.
Introvert vs. Extrovert. Sensors vs. Intuitors. Thinkers vs. Feelers. And Judgers vs. Percievers.
We found that, on the whole, gamers are more Introverted than the rest of the population,
about seventy, thirty introvert, where the regular population is about fifty, fifty.
*In over exaggerated voice* WHAT?!?! Most gamers don't like going out to big parties?!?!?!
We also know that gamers are more intuitive, represented by the 'N' classification.
This means gamers like bringing information together, recognizing patterns, and solving puzzles.
It's a large part what drives our fascination with unraveling the mysteries of games through theories,
like the ones you find on this channel. So that's gamers as a whole, but where things got really got interesting
was when I looked at the personality distribution across Pokémon Go's three teams.
If you're an extrovert, then chances are you picked Team Valor. Although every team had more introverts than extroverts,
relative to the other teams, Valor had the highest percentage of outgoing, socially engaged players.
People eager to engage with other "Goers," and thinking about everything we've talked about, this makes total sense.
Extroverts like action and excitement, tend to be more competitive and show more aggression in their games.
Now, look at the way Valor is described in the game. It's a team built around strength, and honing your skills in combat.
On the other end of the spectrum, Team Mystic had the fewest extroverts of all three teams.
This, again, makes sense though, since the team's emphasis is all about gaining wisdom and intelligence,
rather than using brute force. It's the most thoughtful team, lending itself to quieter, more softspoken people.
Which makes it, yet another, reason most people find themselves as a member of Team Mystic.
As we just said, most gamers are introverted, and so Mystic's emphasis on thoughtful strategy
most aligns with the bulk of people actively playing the game. Valor is also the odd trainer out
when it comes to intuitors vs.sensors. 'N' personalities are significantly higher in both Team Mystic and Instinct,
where Team Valor has a majority of sensors. Buuuutt, what does that mean?
Well, as mentioned earlier, intuitors are all about taking what you know and piecing it together
with other information that you have, in order to solve puzzles and build skills.
So Team Mystic's "Mantra of Wisdom" hits close to home for that personality type.
Team Instinct also has a lot of these personalities because the team LITERALLY uses the word 'Intuition,'
like, three times in it's in-game intro! Instead of repetition, grinding, and competition,
these teams focus on outsmarting the game, which is something intuitors naturally get behind.
Sensors, on the other hand, gather information based on what's around them, and what they can experience in the immediate world.
So, for Team Valor members, gaining skills by doing things like competing and battling makes TOTAL sense
because it's an experience that's right in front of you, it's immediate. It's action packed.
You're not trying to put together some abstract puzzle pieces, you're learning by actively doing.
This also helps explain why Mystic and Instinct have unofficially united, in forums, against Valor.
The way their brains take in and process data, is just fundamentally different from the more sensory red team.
Oh yeah! And one last note about Valor, based on the responses, they're the ones that are taking this game most seriously.
With the highest percentage of people picking this team, because they thought it would bring them an advantage in the game,
and best aligned with their play style. So, if you see more red gyms than blue or yellow in your neighborhood,
that's a big reason as to why. They're the ones who care the most about claiming and keeping those gyms.
You know, really when you look at it, Valor is like the Gryffindor of Pokémon Go;
with an emphasis on bravery and strength. Mystic is like, what, the Ravenclaw, cunning and clever.
And I guess that means Instinct, is... uh... what, like, Hufflepuff?
Oooooh, I am so sorry about that one. #NoHateMeant
#HufflepuffsAreHumansToo. But that begs the question; what ABOUT Team Instinct?
We now know the major reasons why people pick Team Mystic and Team Valor, but then, why Team Instinct?
Well, it's a good question. True to color theory, very few people picked Instinct because they liked it's color.
As we touched on last time, yellow tends to be VERY far down people's color preference lists.
Instead, based on the data you guys provided me, Instinct members were most likely to have joined Instinct
because either a friend or popular YouTuber was playing as Instinct. Which is ironic since that's, like, the antithesis,
of trusting your instincts, but, whatever! Maybe there's a reason this is a meme.
The other main reason people reported siding in as Team Instinct, was because they wanted to support the underdog.
This sentiment was ESPECIALLY true when I asked you guys to leave comments on Part 1 of the series.
But, WHY!?! Why are humans so eager to take pride in rooting for the team that isn't favored to win!?!
Well, tests seem to indicate it's all about fairness. You see, humans don't like unfair systems.
Natural talent, for example, is unfair. You're either born with it, or you're not.
But a game that's decided purely on effort, gives everyone an equal shot.
Psychologists Vandello and Goldshmied set up an experiment to test the power of the underdog effect.
They presented their subjects with a classic underdog scenario, two sport's teams, 'A' and 'B,'
for which Team A was the favorite to win. Most people chose to root for team B, the underdog.
Then the scientists made things a bit more complicated.
They told students that the players on Team A had lower salaries than the one's on Team B.
Team A's payroll was 35 million dollars and Team B's... was 100 million dollars.
This made B still the underdog based on the odds, but they were getting payed three times more money.
And, low and behold, this time, two thirds of the test subjects now supported Team A, the underdog...
based on money. In short, when two kinds of underdogs went head-to-head,
the students came out to favor the one with better odds, but less money.
In the end, what they truly valued was grit, determination, hard work, and a desire to succeed.
And humans aren't the only ones, this fairness angle is present in other animal species too.
In 2003, a study in the magazine 'Nature' showed that when one monkey was given a piece of cucumber,
and another received a delicious grape, the first became uncooperative, because cucumber's suck.
'S scientifically proven. Look! Even cats don't like cucumbers. And then, again, in 2008, a test showed that dogs
would refuse to offer a paw, if they saw another dog given treats for the exact same task.
The conclusion of all these studies is that a sense of fairness is ingrained in ALL of us, at a fundamental level.
And it shows that when the average American roots for the underdog in a sport's game,
or they root for Team Instinct in Pokémon Go, it's because they identify with being an underdog.
They want to see them win, and the world to be shown as fair. When the underdog wins,
it shows that he or she can overcome the odds and do it too. It's actually really interesting
because you see a similar thing on YouTube. Where everyone gets excited to see a small channel start to blow up,
but once it becomes too big, it suddenly becomes the favorite to win, that people begin to root against.
There's also one more personality trait that team Instinct had more than any of the other's.
The Perceiving type, 'P.' P is the last letter in the personality acronym.
The counter to which... is 'J' for Judging. Now Judging doesn't mean judgmental,
but rather, needing to have a strict strategy and plan before diving into an activity. These are the people who need schedules,
strategies, plans of attack. In this case, Team Mystic has that one on lock down,
with Valor close behind. They're both highly structured teams, but Instinct is the one that fights against it.
Percievers are viewed as spontaneous and flexible. And it makes a lot of sense for the philosophy behind Team Instinct.
Instinct is purely built on the idea that you should trust pokémon to be themselves and do their thing,
rather than force them into being something that they're not, or evolving as soon as possible.
It's about sitting back and letting the strengths of your pokémon work for you.
Basically, all you Team Instincters are just a lot less uptight than the rest of us.
It was also interesting since when I examined the data based on age, as players got older,
there were fewer and fewer Instinct members and more and more Valor and Mystic members.
This also coincided with more 'J' personality types, and when you think about it, it makes sense,
because as you become older, life becomes more regimented, less carefree,
and requires things like schedules and plans. There's a lot less room to just 'Go with the flow'
like Team Instinct believes in.
So there you have it! One, simple, in-game decision governed by multiple psychological principles,
that make you and I who we are. Everything from The Bandwagoning Effect to the center stage principle,
to the world's natural preferences for colors, to the subconscious things that dictate our priorities
and personalities. It's pretty incredible stuff! Now remember, for all of this, we're talking about statistics.
It doesn't mean that every single member of Team Mystic is an intuitor or that if you're an extrovert,
you're on Team Valor. But it does help explain why there's such a huge majority for one team versus another.
Because the psychology of the game itself, the colors of the team, the personality of gamers...
ALL lend themselves to everything about Team Mystic. And in a month from now, when no one is on any team,
we'll all know it's because Niantic broke the game. And THAT one, is a whole lot easier to explain.
Buut, hey! That's JUST a theory... A GAME THEORY!!! Thanks for watching!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go do a theory that WON'T be... a two parter, you're welcome.
(Subtitles by Bloxglo4ever)