The Most Wacky Football Manager 14 Feature Idea Ever

by Chappers 12/06/2013 | 4:37 15 Posted in Best Stuff, Hype n News, Possible Features

The Most Wacky Football Manager 14 Feature Idea Ever 3.56/5 (71.11%) 9 votes

Well after a title like that you must be expecting something BIG, trust me it is, the wacky feature I have in mind for Football Manager 14 is actually fairly conceivable but definitely a big change to the way we do things.

The inspiration for this idea came from an article I wrote on What Culture about features that I wanted to see in FM 14, well in fact it came midway through a reply to a person commenting on that thread, nonetheless from what public opinion seems to be, this idea could be ‘life-changing’ for FM gamers.

Before I spill the beans I just wanted to point out a couple of statements I have read and had put to me in the last week or two whilst running this site that kind of lead me to where I am going with this:

Alan Worral said (here): “SI do their best to attempt to create a real world but it’s near impossible”.

Jabb Cooper said (here): “besides it’s sure to spoil the fun when you already know your striker will be very good in advance before you train them”

After only a couple of weeks running this site, pooling opinion and writing about the subject I love it is clear to see one common feeling that we all have as FM players: the want to make Football Manager 14 as life-like as possible but without making it as life-like as possible. Confusing huh? Let me explain.

Computer games, films, TV and pretty much every piece of technology out there is trying to make itself as life-like as possible. With the fresh 3D TV’s, Smart technology and voice control coming as standard with the new XBOX you would imagine that FM players would be playing ball and looking for a similar ‘feel’ with the new FM.

You big bunch of hypocrites!

The problem is most of the opinion seems to be hypocritical, in the forums across the FM’osphere everyone is calling for the game to be more realistic, myself included, calling for a change in AI and irradicating the sometimes ‘silly’ transfers, mistakes and inconsistencies that the game seems to throw up all to regularly. But in the same token players don’t want to see ‘out of game factors’ like injuries, transfers and form effecting in-game play, we can’t have it both ways people!

There were some great points made about the similar subjects on our recent interview with several real FM experts.

I think I have the answer, I think I know how SI can deliver a game that is the most life-like piece of entertainment that ever existed on PC/MAC and believe it or not it is actually fairly simple and obvious.

Here goes…

Scrap, get rid of and completely remove player attributes, by that I mean the 1-20 numbers that differentiate Messi from messy.

What is the biggest difference between real-world management and the Football Manager series? Yep, player attributes.

You don’t see Sir (won’t be long) David Moyes saying “I’m going to play Antonio instead of Nani ‘cos his crossing is 18 and I reckon that could make the difference in this game”.

Think about it, after your initial scout of the player and first impressions do you ever really pick one player over another simply based on the numbers on his profile? I know I don’t. My picks are usually based on form, consistency and my overall opinion of a player and his effectiveness.

In it’s place should be a more detailed break down of morale, performances, scout recommendations, form and detailed analytics about the current players’ playing level, mental state and other determining factors.

In it’s place could be things like “David Beckham is getting a bit old now but its really worth playing him alongside Will Hughes because they work really well together”.

Or even “Messi was looking a bit tired in training, give him 45 minutes tops in the game”.

Though statistical representations of this would be more suitable there is every possibility of this being a comments based breakdown.

What do you think?

Am I completely off my rocker? Do you have a better way of making FM more life-like without making it too life-like? Comments below.

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Chappers

Hey, I'm Danny and I run (try to) this FM appreciation site. We do try to be constructive and talk about some real conversational subjects but occasional we may drift away from the subject slightly! I hope you enjoy this site, if you want to chat you can find me on Facebook, Twitter and Google+, alternatively just leave a comment below. Cheers!

Matthew Hendey

i know its called football ‘manager’ but what about being a director of football option, i’d like to appoint managers etc
- https://footballmanager14.co.uk/ Danny Chapman
  
  I think thats a good idea Matthew, what would you between recruiting new managers though? I reckon if you could invest your in-game earnings into being a director of a smaller club, putting your money in to it, then maybe recruiting a manager of that team while managing another, what do you think?
  
  Some purists might disagree with me though!
Matthew Hendey

yeah something like that would be good
Rion

my only qualm, unless i’ve missed something, is how would you distinguish an average prem / good championship striker, against buying a good foreign player, without any comparison of his attributes? i think we’ll always need that representation of ability, but it’s an interesting idea. also, congrats on the website, bookmarked for the future
- https://footballmanager14.co.uk/ Danny Chapman
  
  Hi Rion,
  
  Thanks for the comment, good point!
  
  Of course scouting would still exist and could still include ‘potential to be a leading Prem player’ but I reckon the charm will be in the unknown and learning what distinguishes a good/bad player in the same way managers have to do so in real life.
  
  Danny
Oludipe Olanrewaju

I think it is a great idea. It will make it very realistic but truth is that not many players are that realistic. I don’t know how many people watch every single minute of every game and your idea will require that. I would love it though…would love an incentive the watch the full match.
- https://footballmanager14.co.uk/ Danny Chapman
  
  You’re right, I think the majority of FM fans would love it but there will be some who don’t!
Alan

The problem is that this DOES exist in the real world, even if its not explicitly marked as such. Coaches, Scouts all rate certain technical skills, physicall attributes of players. They might not have a 1-20 score card (or they might!) but the concept exists.
Jordan Strong

That idea kind of falls apart when you are trying to create a tactic and especially when you are trying to find regens later on in the game. Many tactics require players with certain attributes, for example Nezza’s super 442 requires fast defenders. If there were no attributes… how would you be able to tell what players fit your formation and which ones dont. Anyways… the attributes dont always predict results in FM. there are hidden attributes such as important matches and consistency which do affect the game. And even messi will play bad in a poorly developed tactic. So I don’t think your idea solves anything to be honest.
- https://footballmanager14.co.uk/ Danny Chapman
  
  I agree with you Jordan, it is only a hatchling of an idea but a manager could and would be forced to use his knowledge, personal and mental traits of a player, form and history to come up with his favourite team.
  
  Which is exactly how its done in real life.
  
  My point was that with SI constantly trying to make the game as real as possible, surely this is a logical step?
  - https://footballmanager14.co.uk/ Danny Chapman
    
    Their would be massive benefits of this situation too, for example team ‘chemistry’ and ‘fitting in’ advantages which are thwart with issues when looking to sign players best solely on their 1-20 assets.
    - Jordan Strong
      
      I see what you are saying, and I think it is very interesting… but without 1-20 attributes… how will the match engine work? I’m not sure exactly how the ME works at the moment, but it seems obvious that a players performance is based on his attributes combined with his role on the pitch, as well as his morale.
      
      But without the 1-20 attributes there would be such a heavy reliance on morale and chemistry that it would become so unrealistic. You could win the league with a bunch of amateurs just as long as you kept them happy and have a good tactic.
      
      And I honestly don’t see any problem with the current 1-20 system. With all the variables that go into the match engine the 1-20 attributes won’t make or break a player. For example in my st. etienne save, One of my best performers was a guy names saadi. His attributes were very poor, nothing above 15, my assistant gave him a 2 star rating. And yet he was my top scorer and top performer. Averaging a goal a game.
      - https://footballmanager14.co.uk/ Danny Chapman
        
        You have touched on my point exactly, you picked your player at st ettiene based on performances not 1-20 stats but I guarantee you would not have bought that player after scouting and checking his stats!
        
        Im not saying they should go completely, just be hidden from the user.
      - Jordan Strong
        
        Yeah… and I think with more in depth scouting you would get a good idea of a players strengths and weaknesses. Good thoughts mate.
FdotM

Great article. I think rather than making the game like that we should be given an option if we want the attributes to not be there, as a lot of people would probably not like it. But that would make things so much more exciting.
Also…maybe the attributes should be rated according to form and confidence. If say, Navas has a poor few games and he has no assists or goals then his confidence my drop and impact this form and performance.
Anyway, just a thought.