I use custom team colors…It’d be a nice option to have the ability to swap team colors while reviewing past matches or even spectating live matches. 
4 Likes
I’m going to have to disagree.
I’ve recently got into a heated conversation about team colors in relation to identifying players using the same heroes and (alleged, but wrongly identified) hackers. The pivotal evidence to back up my claim was team colors and the accuser claiming they were being wall hacked by saying the player in question was targeting them through the wall, when in reality the player being targeted was a friendly Sombra the player had mistaken as themselves based on color alone. Yet the player kept doubling down and trying to gaslight themselves, me and anyone else who didn’t bother to watch the video of their ‘truth’ without actually addressing the issue of misidentifying team color.
The goal of static colors isn’t to denote friendly versus foe, it’s to denote team 1 from team 2, swapping colors on the fly could be used to mischaracterize claims. Having team 1 be blue, and team 2 be red establishes an irrefutable baseline that can be used to identify team composition and players without resorting to using names.
That’s all well and good…
BUT
When you watch a replay, the team colors are static. Meaning Team 1 is X color and Team 2 is always Y color. Let’s say Y color is your enemy team color. Sometimes when you review your games, you may be on Team 2, meaning your team color is Y color. This can be confusing for obvious reasons…and is the problem I am seeking to address.
The scenario you outlined sounds like already the case, since people can change the default team colors in their colorblind preferences. I don’t think adding this feature exclusively to replays (at the very least, if not also spectating) would really contribute to such a fringe case of people producing clips under false pretenses like that.
4 Likes
I think this is a great suggestion to adapt the colours to that which it would be if you were actually playing in the game as the person you are spectating!
2 Likes
Agreed, there should be an Replay Option setting that let’s you select a color for both “Team 1” and “Team 2”.
I hate watching my replays that shows my team color as Red.
2 Likes
This isn’t a great argument against what would be a fantastic quality of life update for the replay system…
Catching hackers is Blizzard’s job and not the players’…
And outside of that small use case just use their names…
In-game systems should benefit the enjoyment of the player and not be there simply to make life easier for the developers (pro 2-2-2 arguments that cited “ease of balance” are another example of this)…
It is though
Having unalterable static colors provides an anchor point in identifying team 1 vs team 2 in a discussion standpoint as well as acts as a baseline standard in viewing a match.
I can’t say for certain either, but I’m pretty sure in most cases, red team is the attacking team and blue team is the defending team, which also further adds contextual definition to the match in question.
Color is used to define team 1 and team 2 as separate and distinct entities, switching them up due to preference is completely arbitrary and provides no such “quality of life” improvements.
Incorrect - there are several improvements:
- A more accurate representation of the spectated player’s actual in-game experience
- This allows for more accurate simulation - one can immediately see who is the enemy and who is friendly from the point of view of the spectated player
- This also allows the player to record their own replay for the purposes of for example getting a review and makes it easier to do such a review or to allow other players to learn from that replay and see how they can improve their own gameplay
- Your montage looks cooler since you can hide the fact that it was a replay as a moment can be recorded to look exactly as it did in-game
The problem you outlined can easily be solved by:
- Using the player’s name
- In regards to lengthy or extended discussions around specific matches - most of these revolve around organized competitive play in which teams already have names and can be referred to by such
Not necessarily true.
Color in both situations is contextually perspective based.
In gameplay color is used to denote friendly and foe players allowing the player to ascertain who’s a target and who’s not, in replays color is used to denote team 1 vs team 2 as the player is watching from a spectators viewpoint not a player’s viewpoint regardless of who’s being spectated and goes a step further in quickly defining who’s an attacker and who’s a defender.
The colors serve a purpose in both scenarios independently, redrawing color lines in replays only muddies the water.
No it doesn’t, it’s a preference in place of a tool.
You make a halfway decent point here, but I would disagree that the majority of players are using replays for montages, I would go further and disagree that even a noticeable minority are as well.
Live recording of gameplay or streams is ridiculously accessible and cheap these days, and getting wider dynamic shots can be achieved without the use of color to denote teams.
If there would be a reason for this, it would have to be denoted in some fashion that colors have flipped.
This is one such issue I’ve had recently that I highlighted specifically as it did contribute to an attempt to muddy the waters of discourse on purpose.
One negative and documented interaction (if you’d like a link) is a solid enough reason to raise awareness of the abuse of such a system as in place now, in hopes it would not be implemented in a way that allows further abuse with expanded personalization for completely arbitrary reasons.
In addition to this interaction, I’ve also outlined a plethora of reasons as to why establishing baseline, objective, contextual rulesets is important to maintaining and understanding of what is being viewed, while all you can bring to the table are arbitrary and subjective customization aspects that serve no real purpose except to let people change colors based on personal preference.
- The statement made is necessarily and factually true
- Thank you for highlighting why it feels jarring to view the spectated player as “Red team” - so you agree with me?
- Having the spectated and gameplay experience be more closely aligned makes the viewing experience more immersive
- The point regarding attacker and defender is incorrect in any competitive match with multiple rounds and there is no attacking team or defending team in either of the new modes
- Therefore the denotation of team 1 and team 2 fails to be meaningful
- Yes it does - objectively in fact
- Post-live recording is objectively the better option where possible since recording always has an impact on frame rate
- Subjective claims on the supposed accessibility of recording don’t change this
- Not everyone has access to good hardware
- Replay system also allows you to record your friend’s perspective as it was seen from their perspective
- There is no “abuse”
- The plethora of reasons you outlined has been refuted
- You still have no argument against simply using the player’s name or other obvious denotations
- The benefits of this quality of life change clearly outweigh the downsides
1 Like
Exactly the goal I have in mind. It would be nice to (quickly) review a game from the player’s perspective (with the viewer’s UI settings).
This would save your average player from the extra pre-game step of starting the recording setup, and eliminate the risk of performance drops that would go with doing so on a subpar PC.
(A problem that I am fortunate enough not to have, btw…I just think it would be a great feature for reasons we have described)
I would keep it just as simple as a checkbox to toggle the colors on the timeline control panel. I’m pretty sure it would be easier than hell to code up and implement.
1 Like
So can we please add a swap team colors button in the replay options menu? I don’t care about all the arguments against it. I just want to be able to watch a replay without feeling confused.