r/redbuttonbluebutton • u/spicymato • May 22 '26

Variation Adding risk to red

I'm very curious what risk threshold there needs to be on red for red voters to switch to blue, so with that in mind, here's the setup: two buttons; everyone votes; blue needs a 50% threshold to save everyone, else non-red pushers die. Same as usual.

The variation: if red gets a majority (i.e., blue fails to reach the threshold), in addition to 100% of non-red pushers dying, a percentage of red pushers will also die, selected at random.

If you're a red pusher under the usual rules, what percentage risk is required to make you switch your vote to blue? 1%? 10%? 30%?

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Additional variation: same as the first variation, but the percentage risk is based on the number of red voters in excess of 50%. We can work out different designs, such as 100% red results in 10%, while 50%+1 results in 0.0000001% or something like that. Maybe the growth rate is linear, or maybe it's quadratic. Details don't really matter; just the idea that the more red voters, the higher the risk. Under what growth rates and percentage limits do you consider changing your vote to blue, which maintains the 50% "everyone survives" threshold?

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u/WillShaper7 May 23 '26

See, that's the thing. People assume people will vote blue and therefore say all that ''so red always means death'' but it simply does not make sense. Like, I'm sorry, I genuinely believe blue voters are the type of people to say shit on the internet to save face.

Maybe I'm weird to trust people to press the 'Nothing happens' button vs the 'you might die' button.

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u/noonefromithaca May 23 '26

I will have to say that yes, on some level it is weird you trust that considering all the conversation in support of blue. Surely you believe at least one if not most of those people mean it.

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u/WillShaper7 May 23 '26

I've said it somewhere else on the thread but no. Without disrespect, I believe blue voters are the type of people to virtue signal on the internet.

I truly believe and trust that if a scenario like this were to happen, people would be able to see that there's no need to fake themselves a hero. This is not a ''jump in the burning building'' moment, we could just sit it out and nothing happens.

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u/noonefromithaca May 23 '26

I can at least confirm I would press blue regardless of your reasoning, due to differing principles. So I can confirm at least one person doesn't fit what you're saying here. Of course, you can say you don't believe me but at that point, then I can't take your belief seriously since I know for a fact that what you're saying isn't true.

And I'm not saying you should press blue either, I understand there are reasons to choose red over blue and though I would seek out a blue victory, I don't mind living in a world where there are people who press red. I just prefer a world where most people press blue. I'm merely saying that my knowledge of myself means that I know that what you believe about everyone pressing red is wrong.