Sports Interactive has provided football enthusiasts with a quality simulation game for over fifteen years allowing those to experience the dream of managing their favorite club. Whether it be a top-flight side challenging for European glory or a lower division team struggling to keep competitive, the primary opponent has been the computer itself. FMLive turns this long standing convention on its head by eliminating virtually all semblance of AI-driven actions – almost every variable in your experience comes from a conscious human mind. Transfer interactions, contract negotiations, match tactics and even the structure of your gameworld & federation is directly in control of the involved participants. This type of dynamic is across the board for all MMOs and the primary concept to take into account when diving into the game.

Truth #1: FMLive is not the same game as FM.

The title may contain the same words, the developer may be the same company and the playing interface may look very close to the PC release, but the two games are wholly different from eachother. The yearly computer release mimics that of a simulated real-life conversion of the current football world with the user taking the job of a club’s manager. With any job comes bosses (chairman), assistants (coaches) and support staff (physios & scouts). It is the combined effort of these characters and your ability to manage them as well as your players to accomplish your goals.

Football Manager Live does not have this real-life conversion at all. No one controls ‘Liverpool’ or ‘Barcelona’ and there is no similarity with the current football league structure. From the start of gameworlds, the ‘08 player database is used and all are up for grabs. (there is a system though that users introduced first cannot accumulate all the stars) If you had to compare, it is more like fantasy football than anything else.

Football Manager Live also no hierarchal structure of management. It is the users themselves that possess individual skill sets of all these combined functions that are attributed to staff members in the PC game. Success relies totally in the user’s hands and it is the user that is essentially a character in and of itself within the gameworld. No hirings or firings and no one you’re held accountable to (other than the bank as you’ll find out). The attributes that you develop to help the club are solely yours by way of the skills system. Do you want to focus your energy on coaching? How about specific coaching like physical or mental ability? Maybe you want a better scouting knowledge of South America or being able to determine potential in young players. Are your first teamers out on injury for too long of a period? Physio skills will help you in that regard. Just take the time involved to increase your abilities to do so in the areas you see fit. Remember though, you must sacrifice valuable time in one over others and to improve every available skill can take months.

For those not familiar with World of Warcraft or EverQuest, these types of games are called MMORPG’s. The initials stand for massively multi-player online role-playing games. In nearly all, the development of the player’s character is a primary goal. Many feature a progression system in which players earn experience points for their actions and use those points to reach “levels” which makes them better at whatever they do. Traditionally, combat with opponents and completing tasks is the main course of reaching your objectives, gaining experience and rising up the ranks and the accumulation of wealth is another way to progress. Many MMORPGs feature living economies, as virtual items and currency have to be gained through play and have definite value for players. These games always allow players to communicate with one another. The “worlds” generally have game moderators, which may be paid employees or unpaid volunteers who attempt to supervise the world. Some GMs may have addition access to features and information related to the game that are not available to other players and roles.

Truth #2: FMLive is a long term game & requires a long term attitude.

The ultimate goal in any MMORPG scenario is to achieve top ranking in your virtual universe, to be the very best (and to hold on to it). FM Live features up to one thousand users in each gameworld and depending on the creation start date, it can be one that is young in its life, very old or somewhere in between. Regardless of that fact, everyone is looking to secure a higher ranking, win trophies and earn a world class reputation. Using the skills in your arsenal, cunning in the transfer market, fiscal management and tactical prowess a user can achieve such success. On the other hand, a string of bad results and poor showings in cup competitions can combine with a season filled with injuries, unrest and financial distress to propel you way down the rankings pretty quickly.

An obvious assumption would be that the older the world, the more experienced users will be found. How can a new user expect to compete against so many people that have months upon months worth of skills and money? Well, in a nutshell, a new entry will not be forced to pit themselves against the titans right away. Within your chosen federation, you will likely be placed in it’s lowest division and playing league games against those sides that are of a similar level as your own. Depending on results, users will rise or fall on their specified league table trying to gain promotion or avoid relegation and in conjuction move up or down the world rankings. You may additionally play ranked or unranked friendlies against any team as you wish, but be aware that a significant differential in reputation and ranking between sides will likely produce a lopsided result.

As stated previously, experience does not neccessarily equate to results. The skills that users acquire over the course of time are only a tool for you to utilize specified features in a better way. It is how you act upon this new knowledge that ultimately determines whether or not you succeed. Heavy scouting of players and high potential youth signings can still turn out as duds. Top notch physio abilities can still not prevent your world class striker from getting a career ending injury. Coaching stats at max still won’t improve an ultimately mediocre player into greatness. Fiscal mismanagement can place your club into receivership and have lasting consequences spiraling yourself downward on the FML totem pole. In the beta release, it was possible for some new users to rise into the top 50 within their first few weeks as well as some with months of experience to plunge to the bottom of the rankings.

While these extreme cases are fairly rare and reality lying somewhere in the middle, it is still important to realize that FMLive is a long term game. Regardless of your past brilliance playing the PC version winning the Champions League with a 3rd division Romanian side in a week, there is virtually no way at all to achieve instant success from the onset of joining a gameworld. Repeating that again on a more personal tone (act as if this guide to speaking directly to you) – do not expect to win everything in sight once you start playing!

Truth #3: FMLive is a human experience.

Remembering truth #1, you are going to be pitting yourself not against a computer, but against other active users with the same agenda as your own. Unlike the AI you’re used to encountering, these opponents now have human minds working for them. Logic, intuition, creativity, adaptation, unpredictability and emotions will all come into play and there is no definitive blueprint to defeating everyone.

Tactics that work for your side against some opponents may not against others. It already has been shown with the FM08 release that the match engine has certain discrepencies when innovatively designed human strategies are input against the more pre-set defined ones of the AI. Now instead in FML both managers are involving themselves in a football “chess match” with a unique viewpoint attempting to stay one step ahead of eachother. No one can easily predict what their counterpart will do in certain situations and how to combat an ever increasing ability to adapt to playing conditions. While some users may go with the one tactic “play it out” approach, there will also be those that spend the time gaining tactical skills to be more effective highlighting their player’s strengths, cover their weaknesses and using opposition instructions to stimey your side.

Players values are in the eye of the beholder. There is no code that the computer determines a certain market value for a person and reacts to your action in dependence on it and the relation of importance to the club. Users will covet speficic players over others, weigh certain attributes more or less than you do and sometimes even show emotional ties to some players for no apparent reason. It is a common psychological theory amongst any group of traders that the selling party believes he has received a higher value for his product that it is worth while the buyer believes that his purchase was a steal of a price. Play FML with a fresh open mentality and don’t be disillusioned by the fact that you may not be able buy quality players under value. Conversely, don’t expect bids to come in left and right for players that are dead weight on your squad. Remember you’re dealing with opponents just like yourself and try to view things from their perspective in the transfer market.

Social interaction is encouraged in Football Manager Live and can be utilized to your advantage. The chat rooms on the gameworlds are typically filled with users discussing gameplay features (help centre), tactical strategies (tactics chat), posting sales/loans (marketplace) and anything/everything/gossip (lobby). While it is a good break in between matches and gives you the ability to find out the latest happenings in the gameworld, the social functions can be a useful tool for a manager. Developing relationships with other users can greatly increase your leverage in certain situations. Heard someone slating a certain player on his squad for a poor performace? Maybe if that player was in your sights, you can get a good deal for him now. Noticed in your mailbox that a club has an injury crisis? It’s possible that he’d be interested in one of your players for cover. Playing a newly entered user in a friendly? Maybe offer him a few possibilities for loan that can help his side out right away. Although some people may prefer a more socially isolated playing experience, the belief that the game is more commonly enjoyed by use of these unique interactive elements.

These three fundamental truths are the basis of how Football Manager Live was developed. An innovative blend of a football simulation and an MMORPG, it relies predominantly on the users to mold the game playing environment. A definitively “living” world with social nerves, economic veins and a highly competitive spirit. These virtues should always be held in high regard in your mind when confronted with any situation encountered in your game experience.

Related posts:

1. The mind of a lower-tier manager
2. Lost in translation – how do football formations play out in FML?
3. Balance is the key to winning football matches

The new framework of player wage demands, club reputation & skill specialization – what does progression look like now in Football Manager Live?

How hard will it be to reach & stay at the top of your game world? Does anyone really have a clue what the FML economy will look like down the road?

Joining me on this episode is a well-known member in the FML community:
Jak Swan – beta tester & writer of one of the top FMLive blogs on the web.

A run down on the topics & issues we cover on the show:
Game world progression – is FMLive a “rags to riches” game now?
The evolution of the new reputation system.
Is this results-oriented economy going to have teams break away too far?
Are too many utilizing strategies from the “old” FML that don’t apply anymore?
The effect of academies on the youth-oriented approach to success.
Existing gameworlds: will it be a race to exploit the new users?
Player pools & improving your initial squad gradually through cheap transfers.
A casual pace versus having more things to do for “hardcore” users.

If you would like to submit a listener question, have your Football Manager Live blog/site featured or can suggest any topics you’d like to hear discussed on the show – don’t hesitate to e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes – downloads automatically for you!

Related posts:

1. Episode 27 – Stadium Building Strategy
2. Episode 15 – Final 1.1.2 Launch
3. Episode 17 – Gameworld Hopping

Although many of our current readers & podcast listeners here are quite versed in the game, this webcast allowed us to expand to a fresh audience who may have just heard about Football Manager Live, but have never actually experienced the brilliance of the game’s core concepts. This presentation and live Q&A session allowed the present FMLive community to bridge this gap – hopefully, enticing others to give the game a shot for a month!

A huge thanks to everyone who came out for it and supported us – from the experienced veterans to the green newcomers! Special kudos to Philip Sinkins and Thomas Levin for joining me as panelists in the discussion and helping out those uninitiated with Football Manager Live (a whopping 57% of attendees at the webinar never played FML whatsoever) to better understand the fundamentals of the game’s mechanics. I think we converted a bunch of folks!

If you missed out on this event, below are the full presentation slides from the webinar. Between Game World One and FM-Britain, we’re looking to do many more of these webcasts (both through this platform as well as webcam video broadcasts via UStream) to dive even deeper into Football Manager Live to discuss strategies, tactics and virtually anything else that would help you understand the game better and increase your potential for success.

As promised, we also gave away 10 one-month subscriptions to Football Manager Live in a random drawing from all webinar registrants. Congratulations go out to the following winners: (you’ll be contacted via e-mail to claim your prize)

Gus Whythes, Richard Jones, Ryan Gresty, Alexander Rutherford, Neil Owens, Marco Manzini, Tommy Burke, Michael Fors, Tadis Dillon, Peter Spellman

For those contest winners brand new to Football Manager Live, we all look forward to meeting you in one of the game worlds very soon! Remember, the community is the game – so don’t hesitate to ask questions, seek help and join in the discussion on the official forums!

Related posts:

1. The mind of a lower-tier manager
2. Lost in translation – how do football formations play out in FML?
3. Balance is the key to winning football matches

Many of you might have attended the first two live webcasts over on FM-Britain’s UStream channel in February/March. Everyone who joined in had a blast – and I did as well!

Now then, you know the technical capabilities and features on a free broadcast service are somewhat limited, which greatly hampered many of the cool, interactive elements we wanted to include in our webcasts. You also know we were heavily hyping our intention of upgrading our platform to an enterprise solution (one that corporations use for global online training) so we could finally have the ability to incorporate these premium presentation tools into our broadcasts.

An Introduction To Football Manager Live
Wednesday, April 21st from 7:00pm – 9:00pm BST
Register now for this event. Absolutely free. Space is limited.

FM-Britain hosts a live interactive demonstration of the game play, functions & features of Football Manager Live. Joined with other experienced members of the FM community, we discuss basic strategies in the game, answer your questions and play matches live while everyone in attendance participates in our tactical decisions & chats with one another while rooting the team on!

While the number of registrants for this webinar is unlimited, attendance space is not. We only have the ability to accommodate 1000 attendees viewing the broadcast live at a time. This is why we strongly urge those who register to show up early in order for having the best chance of getting in. (with it being our first one, we really don’t know how many people will sign up)

In any case, we will be recording the full broadcast for future viewing on our webinar platform by any registrant of this event. Audio and/or video highlights may also be posted here for those who missed out in signing up as well.

We’re also giving away 10 one-month FMLive subscriptions!**

Celebrating our first ever webinar broadcast as well as the recent re-launch of the game, we will be randomly giving ten lucky registrants a free treat to a month of Football Manager Live action completely on us! For current managers, add another month of access to your account or simply grab a pint at the pub courtesy of Game World One. For new users, get a unrestricted full taste of all FML has to offer and see what everyone has been raving about – I, for one believe FMLive is an absolutely brilliant game and want you to share my passion for it.

You don’t even have to attend the live broadcast to be eligible to win this prize.

Just register for the webinar: we will randomly draw 10 e-mails from the registrant list the following day & announce the winners shortly thereafter on the site.

** Contest winners must have a valid Paypal account in order to be eligible for a prize. Funds equaling the subscription cost will be sent directly to the content winners. FMLive game worlds have limited space and FM-Britain is not responsible for making space available or fulfilling the subscription process for the contest winners. The liability is freely placed on the winners at the time of their choosing.

We look forward to seeing you at the broadcast – let’s have some fun!

Click here to register for this event now

Related posts:

1. The mind of a lower-tier manager
2. Lost in translation – how do football formations play out in FML?
3. Balance is the key to winning football matches

This has always been my preferred method and having been in Fowler since the launch originally back in 2008, I was confident I knew how I was going to play the game after re-launch, now I’m not so sure. Let me explain, but first a bit of background.

The Path to Enlightenment

When Fowler launched, it was the first time I’d played Football Manager Live. Unlike some of the guys who’d been in beta, I was a total newbie. Thankfully, I’d read an awful lot about the game mechanics before launch so I was a bit prepared for what I was getting into. My club, Castle Hill FC, struggled through it first six seasons. I was playing with a strategy which was to build a core squad of around 15 players and scrape together enough U21 players to get a team in there for “player development”. I would constantly evaluate my core group and try and improve the pieces one-by-one through transfers, exchanges and wage auctions. By the end of Season Six, I was in the Premiership of my FA, my team was hovering around 120th in GW ranking and I had a half million or so in the bank with a reasonable stadium for my club. I felt that going into Season Seven I would start taking a more serious run at the Premiership.

As the Seventh Season progressed, it was frustrating. I was running a team that was mired in the relegation zone even though in my mind I knew my side was better. So, like any good manager on Football Manager Live would do in this circumstance, I had a tantrum and blamed the match engine. Thankfully, I was talked down from that tree by Millie and Mark Burton who took the time to watch my matches and highlights and point out some obvious flaws in my setup, but also that I didn’t have the right balance of players to play the style I was playing. So for the rest of that season I flipped to a 5-1-2-1-1 type formation where I had a diamond in the midfield but most players bar the AMC and FC were playing defensive roles. I had a massively good run of form and the club came out of the relegation zone into safety.

Heading into Season Eight, again I was optimistic. I kept my same players who’d pulled the side out of relegation with our ultra-defensive counter attacking formation, but added a few as well so that I could get to a more free flowing game. Ultimately, what was happening was against the best sides, sitting back and absorbing the punishment meant that their quality players were getting too many chances and I was losing, so I knew to improve I needed to spend more time in the other team’s half. About a quarter of the way through the season, my team was dead last, hadn’t won a match and nothing was working – I went nuclear.

I sold every player over the age of 19 and decided to go with an all youth side. It was something I had been thinking of for some time, but like most people I didn’t want to see my ranking drop dramatically. However, having played the best part of eight seasons and having never won anything, what did it matter?

Throughout the next three seasons, I struggled. I had one string during Season Eight where my club lost 28 straight matches. My ranking dropped from the 120’s down to a low of about 445 from memory, which was an awesome feat considering that Fowler probably only had about 550 managers. My team was probably the worst active side on Fowler. Apparently, there is no medal for that in FMLive which is a bit wrong in my books.

Climbing Out of the Swamp

Over the next two and a half seasons, I focused on winning official Youth Comps and developing players. By developing players I mean making sure they are playing their natural positions, no green boots and that they are being used in situations where their rankings stayed above 6.8 as best as possible. If a player had success at U17, then I’d promote him to U18/19 and spot him into the lineup until he was achieving a solid game rating. Same again, success at U18/19 meant a promotion to U20/21, from there it was into Reserves and eventually the 1st Grade team. I was careful about watching coaching reports. Is Player X seeing too much First Team, is Player Y ready for First Team – I took those things seriously.

In Season 11, I won my first FA Competition, my U19 side ran away with their competition. More importantly, I had a good group of youngsters in my starting side who were routinely playing 6.8 on average and I’d earned my way back into the Premiership. Unfortunately, it was the same story – mid-table mediocrity. I also noticed that my players’ reputations weren’t going up much at all.

I had built up a pretty solid base of 5* and 4.5* potential youths, at least enough for two teams, so I started to sell some of those. I then used that money to buy a few older players with high reputation who could still play in my starting XI. That was the moment when I really turned the corner.

My side were competing for the Premiership, I won a Senior FA Cup competition and in Season 13, we won every Youth competition our FA had – the Youth FA Cup, U21, U20, U19, U18 and U17 leagues. My youth team became #1 ranked in Fowler. From Season 13 until the game ended in Season 18, my club won 30 official competitions and stayed in the top 10 in both senior and youth rankings for most of that time, despite myself losing a bit of interest with re-launch coming and not playing as much with other commitments.

New Beginnings

So that’s my strategy for club development laid bare. I’m sure for many of you this is not anything new, but what I can say is, I stuck with the plan, executed it and knew it worked. I was keen to bring it across to the re-launched game worlds.

With the re-launch, Castle Hill FC are in Happel and because I’m not moderating there, I get to be a normal player for the most part. The first thing I did was select my side with a view to younger players. I felt that the key was to have some success over the first three seasons so that my reputation level would be good and do ok in prize money. I also felt that I’d build my Youth Academy in a Tier 1B country (I chose Argentina) to avoid the crush in the 1A countries (Brazil, Spain, England). My idea was to have a capable starting side, have a U21 side to just get youth players getting appropriate competition and put together a U17 side over the course of the year with a view to playing in all youth comps in season two. I was aiming for “breaking out” with a great side in season five or six.

Now, I’m not so sure. In Happel there is a very strange premium on youth with almost no concern for player reputation, which is causing inflation in wages and younger player values. Youth Academies are way more numerous than I’d imagined so early in the game – at last check there were 35 academies built or in the process of being built for Brazil, 39 for England and 14 in Argentina. So much for my Tier 1B strategy.

The problem I see for people like me is that per season, most of my youth coming through the Academy in Argentina are going to be hopeless. FML’s database tries to maintain some balance of the number of players from each country at certain quality levels – so in essence there are only so many Messi’s who are ever going to be in the DB, having 14 academies doesn’t mean there will ever be more. Having a 5* Academy means I’ll get more lottery tickets for maybe pulling some of the better players, but its still just a crapshoot. You don’t build a strategy on the basis of a role of the dice.

So the second leg of acquiring youth is through Free Agent acquisition. I’m slightly more optimistic about this strategy and am assessing youngsters now. Ideally, if I can find one or two high potential youth’s per season, that might be enough. What remains to be seen is how this plays out when it comes to youth auctions. One strategy you could use would be to wait and see who “So and So” bids on because he only bids on good youth and try and outbid him. Certainly the change to Judging Potential have made buying youths off the open market much harder.

Zig Zag

In last week’s article here, Jordan Cooper said sometimes it makes more sense to go against the grain. That’s got me really thinking about how I’m playing my game. With the changes to signing on fees for teenagers (20x Wages for Agent Fee), the Youth Academies and adjustments in judging potential – is building through youth a good strategy? That style of play is like farming, you’re growing something from almost nothing. It is appealing at a romantic level certainly.

Conversely, if mid-to-late twenties players with decent reputations are going to be available at a comparative discount then perhaps that’s the market I should be going for. I could supplement that with a “harvest strategy” for youth, where I keep running my youth academy, searching for and signing good young players but then rather than develop them, sell them and use the money or exchange for slightly older players with higher reputation. I think this strategy is akin to working with wood. I could go out and cut down a pristine hardwood tree and cut it into pieces – I then have the option of turning that timber into beautiful pieces of furniture or a house or just focusing on selling the raw pieces and acquiring the sawdust and offcuts from the artists and carpenters who want to make beauty. I can then take that very valuable sawdust and those offcuts and make medium-density fiberboard which is more dense than timber at a much cheaper price. Zigging when everyone else is zagging.

Ultimately it will be fun to see how these strategies shake out and evolve over the next couple of seasons.

Sean is active every day discussing Football Manager Live, follow him @SKaye and join the conversation with all of us!

Related posts:

1. Is Only Having A Youth Team Right?
2. 5 Things You Need To Know Before Going Into Youth Management
3. Your Football Manager Live Future: What To Do Until Your World Ends?

What a difference four months makes! Between the 1.4, 1.5 updates and the brand new game world structures, Football Manager Live definitely has some teeth in it once again.

What has changed for the better? Lots. It’s all looks quite impressive. Will this rejuvenate the previously struggling MMO game to achieve the glory it rightly deserves – or is the future still really up in the air?

Joining me on this episode are three long-standing members of the FML community:
Mark Burton – GW1 administrator & support moderator from GW Sanchez
Paul ‘Scally’ O’Brien – moderator from GW Voller. (as well as other game worlds)
Sean Kaye from GW Happel & former GW Fowler moderator.

A run down on the topics & issues we cover on the show:
Are we finally ready to retire the often-used stereotype of game world “hoppers”?
Will SEGA/SI keep to their edict for new GWs or be tempted by vocal pressure?
Injuries and the importance of squad depth now more than ever before.
Are managers focusing way too much of youth in this changed economic model?
On-pitch performance and it’s factor with the return on investment in purchases.
A final grade for the re-launch as a whole: What do our guests think?

If you would like to submit a listener question, have your Football Manager Live blog/site featured or can suggest any topics you’d like to hear discussed on the show – don’t hesitate to e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes – downloads automatically for you!

Related posts:

1. Episode 41: Strategic Approaches in the New Era of FMLive
2. Episode 29 – FML Time Machine Circa 2007/08
3. Episode 23 – Gameworld One co-founder returns

I believe the skills have direct game theory implications. Although I don’t consider myself an expert on the exact nuances of this higher math, my poker-playing experience with game theory concepts I think relate to this discussion.

In a situation where the same decision by any participant results in anything but the same outcome, an advantage is seen.

In poker this is typically called “getting the best of it” where both the wagers of you & you opponent match, yet probability-wise, one of you will win more often than eachother. This also comes into effect more on point where your action frequency (like bluffing) on a level that an opponent’s decision made 100% of the time results in a profit. (but we’ll leave the poker talk for another day for now)

The skills represent this concept – the higher level you have in each compared to your opponents gives you an advantage. For example, having 4 star crossing coaching while another has only 1 star boosts your squad’s attribute 15% more than his. Although some of the skills may not appear as tangible as this (like scouting) the fact still remains the same.

Taking this concept even further – the more skills that are shared between participants (most amount of that is) then the less valuable the skill is as a whole. Take for instance the above example: we have determined that the first user has a significant advantage over others that do not have that skill. What if everyone in the GW had 4 star crossing coaching? In effect then it would render no one at an advantage in that area. Everyone’s players will excel at a 20% boosted rate in crossing.

Let’s now look at this from another angle using extreme sides of the spectrum. What if you were the only user out of 1000 that had 4 star crossing? While a 5% extra boost in one attribute it may seem insignificant, according to game theory concepts, you have rendered any “decision” by all of your opponents futile as your result will always have a positive result. In this case, a “typical” crossing stat for most of the GW is 10 (as an example), while your players will be at 10.5. (5% more)

On the opposite side, what if you were the only user out of 1000 that DIDN’T have 4 star crossing? While the above situation is true that game theory states that your “decision” will be at a negative against all opponents, an interesting thing happens when applying the value of the skill to the equation. (remember as I showed before the fact that a skill’ s value goes down as more participants have it) Using the same example – a “typical” crossing stat for JUST YOU is 10 while almost a thousand users (the rest of the GW) will be at 10.5.

You can probably see the overriding fact by now. It incorporates another concept typically used in economics – scarcity (supply & demand) If you had to put a dollar amount on the crossing skill itself, what would it be worth in the first example? Well, being that you would be the only person with players boosted in crossing, it would make them a scarce commodity, hence the ability to demand top price for it. In the second example, everyone but you has the skill. That means there are MANY players with the same level of crossing… you may not be able to create them though, but it’s an abundant commodity. (“a dime a dozen” as people say)

Combining these concepts and looking at it as a mathematical proof, this “proves” the theorem that skills are directly relative in value to the amount of users that possess them. Therefore, learning a skill that 10% of the GW has is more valuable than learning one that almost everyone has.

I have to reiterate the fact though that this is only based on game theory. I am aware that skills are interdependent and other factors may have to be considered in determining the “true” value of each skill. Some effect the gameplay more than others based on your own variables. (such as physio skills when you have equal cover in all positions, hence not a high care whether starters get injured)

Try to absorb this in without your head exploding and share your thoughts…

Related posts:

1. Scouting Skills
2. TT&F in FML: The Tactics Skills
3. 1.2 is just around the corner…

On FMFanboys, he made a statement that:

“the community just isn’t needed as much as it once was.”

All respect in the world to him, but I think he couldn’t be more wrong. The community is even more important now than ever before with the immense power that independently operated fan sites have in this new digital age.

Type in “Football Manager 2010″ into Google and see what comes up. Realize this phrase is estimated at 1.2 million individual searches a month. Add all the other varieties of similar search phrases (reviews, tactics, downloads, graphics, etc.) and you easily get 10+ million searches made per month that shout out “I’m looking for information pertaining to this specific game”. So, what does this existing or potential customer see?

The usual web sources are there – the official FM site, Wikipedia entry, Steam page, Amazon product page… but right on the first page is none other than the True Football Manager blog, FM-Base resource site and SoccerLens blog. All on the same “playing ground” with the big boys. That’s the democratization of search.

Users get results based on relevancy and authority. For many the search popularly used for Football Manager, websites like Susie, FM-Britain, FM Scout, Soccer Gaming even come up in results above the official website and the big-time video game magazines. (so much so that sometimes footballmanager.com & sigames.com appear as low as the 5th page in many highly typed searches)

This means that independent fan sites can easily have access to a large portion of the playing demographic. Just produce content that is both relevant and helpful to those looking for this information. No longer can game developers, game publishers and huge gaming magazines just buy their control of the marketing message, opinion and support for their products.

In addition, the connectivity of the internet and mass public adoption of “social media” platforms and networks has immensely changed the way we’re all influenced. Ask any marketer or salesman of the past 50 years and they’ll all say “word of mouth converts more so than any other forms of advertising combined.”

Take it from Tony Key, the senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft, the French video game publisher behind big hits from the Tom Clancy games to Prince of Persia:

Well, people are connecting now in different ways and getting their information in different ways. You used to get information from TV. Now it’s the Internet. We’ve always heard that word of mouth was the strongest. That is nothing new. It is the strongest sales tool. But now word-of-mouth happens 100 times faster than before. You can really spread your message quickly with the right strategy. That is where social media comes in. You are plugging into that and trying to get them to talk about your products.

Before the internet era, the only people who could spread something to the general public in a wide scale were those with lots and lots of money – for purchasing time/space on mass broadcast mediums (TV, radio, newspapers). That was the only way to get a significant amount of potential customers to be aware of and consider a product – and the company itself dictated the exact message being portrayed.

That could be a million people getting information that “X is the greatest thing since sliced bread!” Whether or not Joe Blow consumer in the Midlands thinks the video game is overrated & riddled with bugs didn’t mean anything. How many people can he tell that to? 20? 30? His immediate friends and maybe some dudes at the local game shop? Back then, his voice didn’t matter much on the bottom line.

Enter 2010 and the dawn of the socially connected digital age. With platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Bebo as well as individual blogs (by way of search) and independently operated community forums (by way of search and social platforms) – consumers now have the ability to share their thoughts and “word of mouth” with others on a scale unheard of before.

Joe Blow consumer at the game shop (who before can only influence 20-30 buyers), now after a good experience or bad experience with a video game, as well as with strategy, hints, how-to’s, discussion, whatever he wishes – he can go on his blog and write whatever he pleases, post his opinions & info on Facebook or Twitter and then have it seen by 1000’s and 1000’s of others or more. The effect explodes even more when other consumers can easily then share this message with their social network (of anywhere from 1 or 100 or 1000+ others) with a simple click of the mouse.

All of this without money for an advertising budget. All of this without any control or influence from the game publisher.

The final piece of the puzzle combines both the democratization of search and the connectivity of social platforms. It comes right back to “word of mouth” influence on buying decisions. Think of the movies, TV shows, video games, clothing, or virtually anything you’re looking at spending money on. Do you just rely on a 30 second preview of a film when you decided to plunk down $10 at the theater? Do you just take a look at a full-page ad for a video game and then rush out and buy it no questions asked? Do you watch a specific show on TV because some critic in the newspaper said it was great? I surely don’t. Most others don’t as well.

In a recent Blitz research report, some eye-opening facts confirm these points:

Respondents also generally considered pals more influential than “experts.” “Talking to friends” was rated as very important by 46%, as was “friends play it,” while “expert reviews” were seen as such by only 23% and 32% even saw them as “not useful at all.”

• Avid gamers are heavily immersed within the digital/online space but disregard the majority of staid advertising methods that are thrown at them.
• Avid gamers rely on peer recommendations and their friends for advice, yet social media remains underutilized and inefective in its current form.
• Avid gamers have their interest peaked by commercials, yet they fail to show all-important game play footage.
• Avid gamers find game Web sites a strong point of interest, yet marketers are reluctant to invest in sites that fully integrate functionality that is of interest to our audience, including social commentary, peer reviews, gameplay footage, online demos, etc.

Blitz is critical of such standard marketing fare as behind-the-scenes trailers, podcasts and wallpapers, saying they “are eschewed by avid gamers,” but the criticisms seem a little misguided considering it plays up the importance of peer influence and encourages developers to “get your audience addicted to the game.”

The mere fact that 19% saw downloads of “wallpapers, screensavers, etc” as one of the most important influencing online activities and 56% found them at least useful indicates that the relatively small effort -and budget – of such offerings can go a considerable way towards strengthening certain portions of a game’s online fanbase.

The gatekeepers are no longer in control. The community surrounding a video game has a remarkable ability to make a measurable effect on the perception and information spread about a title. This gives unwielding power to influence both potential customers in their purchase decisions as well as supply existing users with additional conntent & support to supplement their playing experience – possibly turning “casual” types into raving, addicted, enthusiatic avid fans, who then evangelize others in their passion for the game.

But, with great power comes great responsibility. (a Spiderman quote!)

Yes, this connectivity allows the community to also spread potentially incorrect information, warped perceptions, negative viewpoints and even downright lies, if it so chooses to do so. But nefarious acts with purposeful ill intent undermines the benefits of this new era of mass communication.

Honesty wins, the good reviews with the bad. Transparency wins, giving context to your editorial opinions. And most of all, the willingness to help others wins. Producing independent content and discussion that further provides depth for those interested in purchasing the game and enhancing their enjoyment of the product. These are the true shining stars of a community’s effective mission statement.

From the game publisher’s point of view, this all represents a radical shift from the status quo. As with any tipping point, change can be a quite daunting and frightening proposition. Seeing it happen before their eyes and still attempting to clutch to things just because “that’s the way we always did it”. It’s a quite common human response. We can’t fault them for it. More so that anyone, the publishers & developers want to see their game succeed, get better, build a bigger, more rabid fanbase and share their unrelenting passion for the product – especially since many of those working on a game were former consumers of it themselves and still play the product having a true emotional attachment that cannot be matched.

Even so, eventually the parents must allow their of-aged children to “move out of the house”. Hoping that they raised them with the right values, proper learning and correct information to venture into the world on their own – representing both the positive as well as the negative influences from their upbringing. But remember, the parents will always be there to let the children “back in the house”. They’ll be there to provide support & care for them and continually reinforce their highest qualities – even if they leave once again and fail to embrace this information in the best of ways.

In this social/digital age where content producer & content consumer are both one and the same, where word of mouth explodes and “amateurs” operate in a significantly more level playing field as the “professionals” – it’s those who seek to bridge the gap in the relationship divide who will prosper massively with amazing synergy.

Said by JP Sherman on key influencers on video game sales and critical strategies for video game marketing:

Gamers tend to be less susceptible to traditional forms of marketing compared to other groups, however, we crave content, media, conversations, images, op-eds, previews and a myriad of other forms of communication to consume. This is also marketing. Gamers are pre-programmed to consume the kind of social connection marketing that’s evolved over the internet, social media and mobile applications. We eat this stuff up at a phenomenal rate.

I want contest information, I want community news, I want deals and exclusive content. This eCRM system full of gamers who are enthusiastic could be transformed into loyal customers and producers of content for you.

Social marketing is an established habit and behavior of gamers. We crave information and we’re more than willing to modify it, share it, post it and do whatever the hell we want with it. Video game social media marketing is about knowing what core behaviors and desires gamers have and feeding that need with a planned and programmed content release schedule.

It’s this symbiotic relationship that creates a pure living, breathing, fruitful community for all participants – both the consumers as well the publishers & developers. Each side sharing the burden and responsibility for the success of a title.

Paving the way for a bright future in which new users can utilize the community to recieve honest peer opinions and make comprehensively informed decisions. Where the fanbase helps others learn the basics, creates content for further enjoyment in the playing experience and provides unbiased discussion and support to all members that comprise the game’s ever-growing consumer base.

Leading the charge in which the community’s efforts are nurtured and enhanced by the publishers and developers. Harnessing the energy of the game’s rabid fanbase and allowing them to mobilize far and wide in an uncontested fashion – not with control & restriction that essentially eliminates the true authenticity of an independent peer source. Supplementing the community with tools to achieve the best laden efforts in the quality of produced content and distribution. Intergrating the rabid fanbase with their internal marketing mindset in order to further increase the enagement factor between consumers, therefore amplifying the reach and effect of the message and passion to others.

Everyone wins in the process.

The game improves. The community increases in size. Video game sales go up. More resources can be put in for the game’s development. More raving fans to produce content, discussion and get the word out to others. It’s a snowball effect that grows exponentially greater each cycle around.

But it takes resisting the fear of change. Resisting the mentality of “that’s the way it’s always been”. Resisting the dependency of uni-directional participation which defined our specific roles in the old system. We may all call it the “new media” – but in a way, it’s about delving into our civilization’s past by embracing the “tribal” philosophies of our ancestors. Where the exchange of ideas and value ruled society and social capital was the currency.

So, what are you doing for the tribe to get this snowball rolling?

Related posts:

1. Getting Info To The Masses: Is The Customer Always Right?
2. How Does Football Manager Live Compare To Other MMOs? (Part 2)
3. FM2010 Pre Release Reviews

No more of the race to log in first and grab the best players, the new worlds have pre-assigned squads and whether you log in for the first minute or 2 days (even 20 days) later it won’t change who get to choose from in making your first squad.

So how does it all work ?

On joining a new world everyone will receive a similarly balanced pool of players to choose from, up to 50 players in a pool, and it’s from these that you select your first squad. All the players used in these pools have acquisition fees below 100k, so no big names for a lucky few. Each pool has been balanced across a number of factors including Current Ability (CA), Age, Player Positions, Acquisition Fees and in the case of youth players Potential Ability (PA) has also been used.

There may still be some small discrepancies between individual pools, but overall the balance of what’s available to everyone from day one is very good. If your after a certain type of team, all youth or one nationality, then you will have to build it up over several seasons just like anyone who wants a world class team will have too.

The initial 500k is still there for you to purchase the players from within your pool for your first squad, the only real change here is the limited wage cap of 50k from the start and given the fact all the best players are unavailable it’s something you will hardly notice.

Squad Confirmation

The other big change with initial squads is you no longer have to confirm your squad before playing a match. You now have the freedom to try out all the players in your pool over a few days with friendly matches before you confirm your squad. There is no real benefit to confirming early – nobody gets any income until the first season starts so there’s plenty of time to check out all your players and decide just who you want and who you don’t.

No more benefits to signing in a squad of cheapies and raking in a bit of extra income over the first few days, the only real benefit to confirming early is it gives you the chance to try and sign some players from the free agent pool (in wage auctions), but as the only players available here through the pre-season are those rejected by others from their initial pool there’s not too much advantage.

Once you do confirm your squad any players from your pool that are not selected in your squad will be released to the free agents pool for anyone to bid on through standard wage auctions.
You do not need to confirm your squad until the Transfer Market officially opens.

Transfer Market

You will not be able to Buy, Sell, Loan or Swap players with any other manager until after the first season starts! Again, no benefits to getting in early and trying to set up deals with people who haven’t tried out their players, the transfer market is closed until the season kicks off.

The only players available to purchase throughout the first off season are those rejected by others from their initial pools, and these players can only be purchased via the standard 24hr wage auction process.

Star Players

As noted above the other big change to the early seasons is the absence of the big name players, you can’t just be the first to save up enough cash to buy them. All the big names are held back (locked) from the market for a period time. Over the course of the next FOUR seasons these players will slowly be introduced to the free transfer pool, making them eligible for wage auctions. But, the bigger the name the longer it will take for them to be available, with the very highest Acq Fee players being held back for four seasons.

Important to note here that players do not age until they are available to bid on, so locked players will become available at the age they were when the gameworld started even though they have been held back for 4 seasons (years).

That covers most of the big differences to the start up procedure for teams in new worlds, it’s worth noting that this system only applies to the beginning of a gameworld. Those who join in seasons to come will still have a choice of players from the entire free agent pool and as mentioned in the article on Gameworld Types they will also some other players held over especially for new teams – depending on the age of the gameworld.

Good Luck with the re-launch, a fresh beginning for all !

Related posts:

1. The mind of a lower-tier manager
2. Lost in translation – how do football formations play out in FML?
3. Football Manager Live Suggestion: Preselected Squads

Back in November 2009 the first part of the announcement dealing with the future of Football Manager Live talked about the different types of gameworlds that would be available. Followed up quickly with a Q&A in the forums on the returning stars gameworlds, but this area hasn’t received a lot of attention since then. With the release of the 1.4 update not far away, and the change of all current live worlds to the Returning Stars format, it’s worth taking a look at these gameworld types and what the significant differences are.

Returning Stars

The most obvious point of difference for this world type is the initial player database, with real name players available from day one it’s clear this will be a popular choice for many and a good starting point (familiarity wise) for anyone beginning their management career in Football Manager Live.

Having a known player database will make it easier for people to identify with the players in their squad and also easier to identify the threats in the opposition, as experienced already it will also influence the market place with players having an increased value because of who they are, not just how good they are.

The big problem for older worlds under the original system of FMLive occurred with players aging, where was the attraction for managers to stay in (or join) older gameworlds once their favourite players had retired? This is the main area that the new “Returning Stars” type gameworlds look to address, and that will happen in a couple of ways.

Player Cloning

The big change to the player database (and this applies in a similar way to the Newgen Worlds, but we’ll discuss that later) is what happens to players after retirement. Instead of disappearing altogether from a gameworld, a new “clone” version of that player will be created at the players starting age in the current FM database. An important note here is that this new version of the player will be based on the latest FM database and if the gameworld is old enough then that may not be the same as when the gameworld started.

“There will always be some variation as there is a random element involved in creating a player again, filling in any stats that might be missing from the research database etc.”
Ov Collyer – Sports Interactive

So who gets cloned? All real name players available at the start of a gameworld will be re-cloned when they retire (with the exception of any players who may retire in the first season), any newgens that come through later (and it’s important to note that this will still happen in these game worlds) will not be re-cloned when they retire. The next interesting step for these gameworlds is how these players are then factored back into the active gameworld and this is done in two different ways.

Player Draft

Player drafts start several seasons into a gameworlds life, players that retire during the first season are ignored (not cloned), players retiring during the second season are the first ones available for the provisional draft throughout season 3 and this draft happens at the start of season 4.

So who gets drafted? Players are drafted to teams based on Acq Fee (at this stage) and each active team in the gameworld (you must have logged in at least once in the previous season to be eligible), is allotted a player based on the teams reputation. New teams joining a gameworld get the best selections, followed by re-starters that season, and then it moves to team reputation so that the best team in the gameworld effectively gets the worst player.

The provisional draft beginning from season 3 is where you get to make your first decision in the process. Throughout the season you can see whereabouts on the list you are likely to receive a draft pick (this will change as your team progresses or other teams join) as well as the player you are in line to acquire. At anytime throughout this provisional draft you can elect to waive your draft choice for that season, and if you do you will be entitled to a better draft selection the following season.

An important note on this, if you waive your draft pick in one season it will guarantee a better selection the following season based on where you are in line that season. Not an automatically better choice than the one you waived. So if you’re a low rep team in one season and waive a high draft choice, the following season you are a higher rep team it will grant you a better choice than you would have otherwise been entitled too – not necessarily a better choice than the one you waived.

There is a maximum effective limit of 3 consecutive waivers, each increasing your position in the draft. If you continue to waive draft positions for more than 3 consecutive seasons it will not increase the benefit to draft position. So what happens when you accept the draft allocation?

After the draft is finalised you will be given an “option” on a specific player, at this stage that player is committed to joining your club ~ but not yet available for all matches. Players on options can be used in friendly matches and vs CPU teams, but they cannot be used in Major Competition (FA) matches until they sign a full contract.

With an option on a player you have a few choices still, you can hold onto that option and at the end of the current season that player will sign a full contract with your team with no additional charges (i.e. you don’t have to buy these players). You can sell your option, much as you would trade a player normally you can choose to sell the option on the player you received in the draft, and this aspect offers a great opportunity for newer teams to raise some early funds. Finally if you decide the player is not what you’re after, or just doesn’t fit into your team system, you can release the option sending the player to the free agent’s pool.

One very important aspect of this system is that players do not age until after they have signed a full contract with a club. Alongside the determining factors for who is cloned this should ensure that any player you receive through the draft system will play under a full contract for your side for at least two years.

Newgen Worlds

As the name suggests, this world type will have no players whose names are based on real life. Each player in these worlds will be a generated player from day one, the other major point of difference is the player draft. Newgen worlds will not have the player draft outlined above, but they will have a semblance of the cloning system that the draft utilises. Why?

A common perception in the current gameworlds is that players generated throughout the gameworlds life are not as good as those available from the start. Whether that’s an accurate view or not is moot, the perception is there and with so many things perceptions tend to become accepted fact.

So, with newgen worlds the players set out in the original database selected for the worlds start will be treated in a similar vein to the real name players from the returning stars worlds, except here they will be given different names as well. So without a draft how does that benefit anyone?

Initial Squads

It’s likely after the reset that initial squads will come from a set pool of 50 or so players, this system is still under development but the principle seems likely. But that will only apply to the first season of a gameworld, after that new people joining an older world will have a much greater range of players to choose from. One of the main issues from the old system though was that there was very little of value left in the initial pool for starting teams who joined a gameworld late.

So the big change here comes with the cloning system, on average there are around 2,000 players a season who retire in each gameworld. Even in Returning Stars worlds the draft will only utilise around half of those, which leaves a lot more players who have been cloned. These players are available to new teams only, separated from the general free transfer pool, they are held in reserve for those joining a gameworld later on.

In this way regardless of the world type there should be some decent quality players available for anyone joining a gameworld many seasons in, and for the returning gameworlds some known players for them to pick up. Once signed by a new team these players can be brought into a gameworld and sold on as usual, but it at least gives new players to old worlds an opportunity to sign an initial squad with a similar level of value to the squads those who started on day one had.

Elite Gameworld

The third type of gameworld mentioned was that of an ‘Elite’ type, still no major information on what the qualifying for this will be. It will be one of the above two types of gameworld though (and possibly one of each), the only major difference will be the experience (ability?) of those that get invited. Last information on this suggested it would be based on the life of your team, not just the last few months, which would determine whether you get an invite.

However whether this type of gameworld ever comes to fruition may well depend on the numbers of people interested in joining, from what I’ve seen (heard) within the current worlds it appears the majority of managers would prefer to move with the community they know than join this type of world.

Final Word

A number of important changes developed here for the restart, by ensuring a decent quality of available players for those joining later on it removes much of the objection to joining older gameworlds. Along with many of the other changes developed for 1.4 and under development for 1.5 Football Manager Live 2.0 looks like a far more successful prospect than where the game was 4 months ago.

Related posts:

1. The mind of a lower-tier manager
2. Balance is the key to winning football matches
3. Lost in translation – how do football formations play out in FML?