Yeah color can play on your subconscious more than you would think. You might assume that you are being completely logical and subjective when your subconscious is subtly weighing on your decisions...

Abishai wrote:

Yeah color can play on your subconscious more than you would think. You might assume that you are being completely logical and subjective when your subconscious is subtly weighing on your decisions...

But remember, just because you can't discern how much it's affecting a person, doesn't mean it's significantly affecting them.

Honestly, I think the only color considerations that have significant potential to influence player decisions are:

1. Grey suggests you are stronger than you are, as players taking a cursory analysis of the board may conflate your presence with that of neutrals.*
2. Colors that align with other players (eg. players are red, yellow, green, blue, teal, purple, and you pick indigo) suggest you are stronger than you are, as players taking a cursory analysis of the board may conflate your presence with that of the player(s) with similar coloring.
3. Extremely bright/saturated colors (eg. hot pink, neon green) draw a lot of attention, and may increase the likelihood of someone discerning your strategy from your changes in position each turn. This is also true of colors that contrast with other players (eg. players are red, orange, yellow, pink, and you pick black).

*In my opinion, picking grey on certain maps, especially those with medium/heavy fog, is rude. Some maps use a shade of grey VERY similar to neutral grey (Civil War), which is a nightmare for players like me who have trouble distinguishing greys. So very rarely (pretty much only if you're in a game with me), grey will draw severe aggro from certain players.

williamthewizard wrote:

Abishai wrote:

Yeah color can play on your subconscious more than you would think. You might assume that you are being completely logical and subjective when your subconscious is subtly weighing on your decisions...

But remember, just because you can't discern how much it's affecting a person, doesn't mean it's significantly affecting them.

Key word was subtly. Color most of the time won't give anyone an advantage.  I think it can weigh on people's decisions more on foggy games where a player can't see who is a threat based on board position. There is, of course, other ways to discern these things even in foggy games. This thread is called "color choice"  within the strategy and tactics. What comes to mind with me is the all encompassing mental game of creating an environment in which your opponent(s) ends up making poor decisions while you inconspicuously prosper.

williamthewizard wrote:

*In my opinion, picking grey on certain maps, especially those with medium/heavy fog, is rude. Some maps use a shade of grey VERY similar to neutral grey (Civil War), which is a nightmare for players like me who have trouble distinguishing greys. So very rarely (pretty much only if you're in a game with me), grey will draw severe aggro from certain players.

Save your ire for the board designer; it's their fault. A player picking a color may or may not be aware of the potential confusion, and even if they are aware, that's no more rude or exploitative than rolling 3 attack dice instead of 2 - they're just taking every advantage offered by the rules. The thoughtlessness and lack of effort is committed by the person who sets the color palette and ignores a potential conflict.

I can't remember if it's covered in this thread, but the issue of color-blindness affects more players than you might think.  Most people affected can see color but certain colors are 'masked' In many cases, the way they distinguish color is through value, so when the offered palate has mostly colors of the same value, they run into trouble. I put a fair amount of thought into the colors I make available in my boards, but I have to admit that as a designer, I never think to give color-blindness consideration.  I can only imagine what I would do if I were color-blind.

M57 wrote:

 I can only imagine what I would do if I were color-blind.

I would suggest this: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/03/a-cure-for-colorblindess/386450/

BTdubs wrote:

I would suggest this: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/03/a-cure-for-colorblindess/386450/

That was fascinating.

Cool article, makes me wonder how many colors I'm missing even though I'm not "color-blind"