Pokemon Go, What Team will dominate?

Pokemon Go, the popular mobile game, has had its fair share of media coverage involving the three teams in the game. There is a heavy bias towards one team in particular, and that's what will be covered. Continue reading to find out why.



Instinct, Mystic, Valor. Chances are that you've heard these words thrown around when people talk about Pokemon Go. These are the three teams in the game that you get to pick between when you reach level 5.

Team Instinct, shown as the yellow team on the left, is all about using your instinct to guide you to victory.

Team Mystic, shown as the blue team in the middle, is all about the science behind Pokemon and using strategy to overcome your foes.

Team Valor, shown as the red team on the right, is all about dominating your foes with insurmountable force and power.

Now lets think about this, mainly focusing on the color of the team. Team Valor is red, a color that invokes subconscious emotions of anger, rage, and danger. A powerful color for a team dedicated to their might. Team Mystic is blue, a color that brings about calm feelings, planning, and future results. This makes sense for a team who is all about the why and how of the Pokemon. However, team Instinct is yellow, a color not usually represented as an emotion. Sure, yellow could be tranquility or something along those lines, but it is not one of the main colors associated with emotions like red or blue are.

As it turns out, roughly 45% of Pokemon Go players are team Mystic, 30% are team Valor, and 25% are team instinct. These numbers are not exact, but they are close enough to the actual proportions for the topic. When you look at the screen, team Mystic is front and center, most likely the first one that is seen. Most players wouldn't just pick the first one they see, so they look through the teams and pick one. Team Instinct, on the left, doesn't have a clear emotion tied to the color of the team and thus doesn't provide as much of a compelling reason to join that team. Team Mystic, in the middle of the screen, makes the player think critically about the teams, more so than they were since the color blue insights those types of emotions. Now on to team Valor, the red team on the right of the screen. The player is subconsciously aware that the team might pose a threat, even if they don't due to the color of the team.

This shows a good look into the bias that the team colors create, but it is not the whole story. Blue is by far the favorite color of most countries in the world, it appears on more flags and buildings, and on more advertisements since it makes the viewer feel calm and insightful. Next comes red, not the second favorite, but pretty high up in the rankings. It is often used on warning signs, sale signs, and areas where caution is advised. However, the color yellow falls far below most other colors when it comes to favorite color and is the color that appears the least of the three on flags of the world. It is more of a neutral color and is occasionally used when caution is advised but not as urgently as a red color.

Based on average favorite color, emotions invoked by colors and position on the screen, it is easy to show why team Mystic has such an edge on the other teams when it comes to player count. Psychology majorly influences the decisions people make when there is no benefit of choosing one team over the others.

Now, would you want more articles about Pokemon Go? Leave in the comments what you want to see next.