Unofficial: Unrealistic Thread - state your suggestions / improvements here

Just thought id start one to separate what appears to be bugs and unrealistic features in the game.

People are getting mixed up with non-realism of the game assuming its a bug. Not necessarily the case.

How about you put down your suggestions here on what part(s) of the game you feel are unrealistic and could be improved, that way SI just need to look at one thread instead of sieving through hundreds. I'm sure they have noted down a few things already, but no harm in collating everything. I'm not talking about ideas, only areas of the game you perceive to be unrealistic and why and how it can be improved.

It appears from what I've been reading the Match engine 3D needs some improvements to bring in more realistic movements and features.

DO NOT put down any bugs here

DO NOT list ideas for added features - obviously you may want to explain how an unrealistic feature can be improved

ONLY list areas that you perceive to be UNREALISTIC

To make it easier on our eyes to read, and SI's you can use this template:

Unrealistic Area:

The problem:

Improvements:

Example:

Unrealistic Area: 3D Match- Player movements.

The problem: Players appear to be running side ways all too often.

Improvements: This needs to be toned down a little to show a realistic movement from players. Perhaps some more animation is required.

Official?

Official?

Aye - I made it lol

Unofficial whatever, I don't care about the title.

Nice format. Hopefully it'll help keep the thread from degenerating into petty arguements. May I also suggest we keep generalisation out of it, eg, "Make the AI stop cheating", that sort of thing? Anyway, my current bug-bears:

Area: Contracts

The problem: Children asking for £37k per week (16/17 yr olds).

Improvements: Either have them asking for a realistic wage but large first team appearance bonuses, or just tell you they don't want to move from France yet due to language barriers and not wanting to leave mummy and daddy... or the manager who has nurtured him from a youth player.

Area: Player loyaly/transfers

Problem: Signing a player for an up-and-coming team (like Man City/Spurs/Villa) who performs very well, the team over-achieves their way to a Champions League spot, then the player wants to leave 7 months into a 4-year contract when 6th place Liverpool come a-sniffing. They want to move to a "bigger" club.

Improvements: Have players state they would only leave for Liverpool if the club wanted to sell, or perhaps show a little ambition with the club they have just fired to a CL place. In terms of coding this could mean linking the player's ambition with the club's. Tricky, I know, because so much decision making in FM is rooted in reputations. IRL a superstar player signing for Man City, playing well, in the team nearly every week, with the prospect of being a legend at that club, would certainly not be interested in a fading Liverpool or Man U side (in the game, Reds fans, not IRL). Had the real Man City achieved a CL place with Robinho netting 30 goals, and another 20 so far this season, it's doubtful he'd have been courting Barca or heading out on loan to Brazil.

Unrealistic Area: Loans - payments upfront

The problem: For a player rated at £3.5 who isn't a first-team player teams are paying £1m to loan him for 1-season. Some teams shell out more.

Improvements: That is way too much money for a cheap player to loan (cheap in terms of modern football). £200-250k would be more realistic.

Unrealistic Area: Some clubs always win the league by a huge amount of points.

The problem: Celtic always win the league without fail.

Improvements: Needs to be tighter for challenging the title. Rangers manager is better (and I'm a Celtic fan), so he is the one who should be winning the league.

Unrealistic Area: Some clubs always win the league by a huge amount of points.

The problem: Celtic always win the league without fail.

Improvements: Needs to be tighter for challenging the title. Rangers manager is better (and I'm a Celtic fan), so he is the one who should be winning the league.

Not without fail. Rangers and Falkirk are the big 2 in Scotland in my save.

Not without fail. Rangers and Falkirk are the big 2 in Scotland in my save.

In my game Celtic have won the league 6-years on the trot. lol Mixed fortunes then.

Unrealistic Area: Tight-arsed players

The problem: A player who is not playing for a club or is moaning he doesn't get first team football at a club and you approach to buy him and offer him this guarantee (first team football) they refuse to drop their wages.

Improvements: Some players in real-life are willing to drop their wages to get first team football. FM needs to implement this. Why would a class player stop playing football because he is not willing to drop from £200k p/w to £150k?

Unrealistic Area: 3D Match engine

The problem: Players jogging side ways and backwards all the time.

Improvements: Players need to be programmed to run properly much of the time and stop running side-ways frequently. Walking backwards is also too often witnessed.

I'm sure there's much more than whats already been listed.

Unrealistic Area: 3D Match engine

The problem: Players jogging side ways and backwards all the time.

Improvements: Players need to be programmed to run properly much of the time and stop running side-ways frequently. Walking backwards is also too often witnessed.

It's not programming, it's lack of 3d animation. I'm willing to bet that if you could actually look into the ME then the players would supposed to be running forward/back/sideways etc. It's just a case of the 3d not being advanced enough to replicate that, something I have no doubt SI will continue to improve.

Unrealistic area: Tactics

Problem: You are leading 2-0 at half-time in a vital top-of-the-table clash. At half-time, the opposition manager makes the genius tactical switch of, er, replacing one of his centre-backs. He wins 3-2.

What needs to be changed: Better feedback regarding how tactics are affecting the game. I've read many comments on here saying that you need to watch entire matches in order to really follow what's going on. However, I'd wager that the vast majority of us playing the game have neither the time nor the inclination to do this, yet the analysis and stats tools aren't quite up to the task at the moment. I frequently struggle to identify just where exactly a problem is or how to solve it when things are going wrong. It's possible to be successful, but sometimes the reward isn't worth the effort.

unrealistic area: tactics

problem: It constantly says your opponents are now giving themselves more options in attack- even when they winning.

solution: opponents playing more defensively when ahead. Also playing more defensively actually decreasing the chance of goals being conceeded.

some of this is a repeat from what I've written in http:// http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=194854 but anyway.

unrealistic area: Match Engine

problem areas: Far too many goals from through balls, far too few from headers and long shots and from the edge of area at top league level.

solutions: scale back negative effect caused by players who win headers being under pressure. Decrease top goalkeepers shot stopping ability from long(ish) range. Improve defenders ability to anticipate through balls and/or improve the way defenders defend deep when up against pacy strikers. Simulate goals that just miss defenders attempted blocks/go through defenders legs/ strikers found a bit of space in area rather than only have goals where there is a completely clear line of sight between striker and goal.

Unrealistic area: headers

Problem: the new patch has supposedly reduced the instances of players heading the ball when they have time and space to control it instead. Not enough: it's especially annoying when they head it out for a goal kick/corner instead of just bringing it down and crossing/clearing it.

Solutions: fix it.

unrealistic area: tactics

problem: It constantly says your opponents are now giving themselves more options in attack- even when they winning.

solution: opponents playing more defensively when ahead. Also playing more defensively actually decreasing the chance of goals being conceeded.

This annoys me too.

For the first time in 1 &a half season on my game the other day, a team actually started playing more defensively

For me:

Area: Scouting

Problem: Scouts constantly recommending unrealistic targets

Solution: Stop scouts from recommending players who're either WAY out of my budget (when I was Accy Stanley, I kept having Prem players recommended) or recommending players who their current club would NEVER sell.

Unrealistic Area: 3D Match Engine

The problem: Can't score from a corner at back post

Improvements: Fix it!

Unrealistic Area: 3D Match Engine

The problem: Can't score a header from crossed ball played into centre (dead centre).

Improvements: Fix it!

Unrealistic Area: 3D Match engine

The problem: One on one's dead centre are also hit straight at the GK. Celtic, Blackpool, Barcelona - it doesn't matter who you go. To the side and its fine.

Improvements: Fix it!

Keep em coming folks. I'm sure SI will be grateful to get a collection of areas we feel are unrealistic. Ive noticed a lot of threads kicking about complaining that this and that is unrealistic. Lets hope this thread gets used.

Unrealistic Area: Player Interaction

The Problem: I can only praise/criticise my players through the media

Improvements: Give me more in house options for praise/criticism - I should be able to call a player into my office to commend him on his match winning goal. It annoys me that I have to tell the press he's playing well and then it turns out I've over praised him!

Unrealistic Area: Player Feedback (?)

The Problem: The analysis feature is fantastic, but you need to be able to feedback to players where they've done well/poorly

Improvement: Be able to highlight runs/shots/passes from the analysis tool and give praise/criticism to a player to let them know what they're doing well/poorly. Just like watching a dvd of the match on the Monday

Unrealistic area: customer expectations

The problem: a vocal minority of SIs customers appear to expect a complex piece of software to contain no flaws or glitches.

Improvement: Report bugs to the correct forum. Understand that sometimes you will get beaten by a three goal comeback - it just happens sometimes. As do 6-5 goalfests.

Before you attack me, my tongue is firmly in cheek

Unrealistic area: customer expectations

The problem: a vocal minority of SIs customers appear to expect a complex piece of software to contain no flaws or glitches.

Improvement: Report bugs to the correct forum. Understand that sometimes you will get beaten by a three goal comeback - it just happens sometimes. As do 6-5 goalfests.

Before you attack me, my tongue is firmly in cheek

Have you seem my bugs ive reported and not even a thanks from SI on my biggest analysis.

Unrealistic area: player unavailable for match

Problem: IRL players can miss matches due to court appearances / jail sentences for off the field behaviour / marital offences

Improvement: Enable players to be involved in nightclub punchups / extra marital affairs etc.

Unrealistic Area: Player Interaction

Oh yeah.

I've got one right now who doesn't want to be picked.

My main striker is out injured, so the journalists at a press conference asked me who I was looking at as a replacement. I named my substitute... who then got disappointed, with the reaction being shared by the rest of the team ("worried" by my comments, apparently).

For crying out loud...

Unrealistic Area: 3D Match engine

The problem: Very little crosses completed.

Improvements: Having the best wingers doesn't even yeald better than 35% for crosses completed. Real-life stats show that Italian clubs can get an average of 40% completed. This means that perhaps the best may get around 60% with the poorer teams getting perhaps 10-20%. The EPL also get around 22.5% average between all clubs in the top flight. So the best teams may get around 40% with the bottom clubs 10-20%. Some tweaks are required in this area. If I have the best wingers and co. Id expect to see them complete around 50-70% of crosses, even being in the best league, if those wingers were in a poor league then id expect to see an average of around 70-90%. If I'm Celtic or Rangers id expect to see around 40-50% - they play in a poor league against poor opposition, if they played in the EPL then they'd probably only get around 10-20% of completed crosses. Getting my point?

Unrealistic Area: signing young (-18) free agents

The problem: say, you're managing a Belgian team and you'd like to sign a 17-year-old Brazilian free agent. According to FIFA rules the kid can already sign his contract, but won't be able to join the club until he's 18. In FM that means he'll be doing absolutely nothing until his birthday. Even worse if you've spotted a 16-year-old Brazilian talent: he'll be slacking on his mom's couch for about two years.

Improvements: I'd suggest the option were added that allows free agents under the age of 18 to already train at the club they'll be joining when they turn 18. Happens irl too.

A player refusing to adapt his game when asked to by his manager.

Can anybody seriously see (say) a 19 year old refusing to put more power into his shots when requested to? He'd last about 30 seconds at the club I should think!

It's a nonsense and should be removed.

I can just imagine this conversation happening, can't you?

SIR ALEX FERGUSON: Right, son, put some more welly into your shooting, you're a strong lad!

STUBBORN YOUTH: No way - can't see the point!

You can probably think of some likely responses from Sir Alex.....

Oh yeah.

I've got one right now who doesn't want to be picked.

My main striker is out injured, so the journalists at a press conference asked me who I was looking at as a replacement. I named my substitute... who then got disappointed, with the reaction being shared by the rest of the team ("worried" by my comments, apparently).

For crying out loud...

I was stupid enough to hold a press conference to welcome a new player. It appears that because I said I was delighted to have him at the club he is now upset!!!!

For heaven's sake SI!!!

I was stupid enough to hold a press conference to welcome a new player. It appears that because I said I was delighted to have him at the club he is now upset!!!!

For heaven's sake SI!!!

It's alright claiming that that's unrealistic if you give absolutely no insight into why he is unhappy. I am willing to bet that he was unhappy because of unnecessary pressure or pressure that he feels he can't cope with, which is perfectly reasonable. How many players irl fail to live up to expectations? I dare say a few would have done a lot better if so much hadn't been asked of them.

It's alright claiming that that's unrealistic if you give absolutely no insight into why he is unhappy. I am willing to bet that he was unhappy because of unnecessary pressure or pressure that he feels he can't cope with, which is perfectly reasonable. How many players irl fail to live up to expectations? I dare say a few would have done a lot better if so much hadn't been asked of them.

It simply says that he is unhappy. Nothing else. Nobody's asked anything of him at all yet. He hasn't played or been picked even. He hasn't had TIME to have any pressure put on him for goodness' sake, he's only been at the club about a day and a half.

Oh yes - dead realistic, I must say !

Of course, I have now learned not to be so stupid as to hold any press conferences for new signings.

Saying that you're delighted to sign him would indicate that you expect him to do well, whether you say it or not. Hidden attributes such as "pressure" would affect a players reaction to these comments.

Example:

Player A is very confident, believes in his own ability and thinks he can live up to expectations, he'll revel in his manager's comments.

Player B isn't quite so confident, he thinks he's probably good enough, but he's worried that he might not live up to expectation. If his manager says he's delighted to have signed him the player gets worried that a lot of pressure is going to be put on him and expectations have been set too high.

It is realistic. Perhaps it's poorly represented, but it's perfectly realistic.

Saying that you're delighted to sign him would indicate that you expect him to do well, whether you say it or not. Hidden attributes such as "pressure" would affect a players reaction to these comments.

Example:

Player A is very confident, believes in his won ability and thinks he can live up to expectations, he'll revel in his manager's comments.

Player B isn't quite so confident, he thinks he's probably good enough, but he's worried that he might not live up to expectation. If his manager says he's delighted to have signed him the player gets worried that a lot of pressure is going to be put on him and expectations have been set too high.

It is realistic. Perhaps it's poorly epresented, but it's perfectly realistic.

No, the alternative you actually get is something to the effect of being delighted to sign him at a bargain price. Are you supposed NOT to be pleased because you got him cheaply? This particular player was unemployed so came in for nothing at all.

Remember, players are signed as (amongst other alternatives) backup, or used in a squad rotation system or first team players or key players. So they already have an idea of the expectations and, presumably, if these bothered them they wouldn't have signed at all in the first place.

It's not realistic!

So you were delighted to get a free transfer backup player :confused: And the game is unrealistic.

You wouldn't be delighted about signing a backup player , if you were you would automatically raise expectations unrealistically and create the problem yourself. I dare say you would have had a different response had you said you were "pleased", by clicking "delighted", imo, you caused the problem.

I didn't say he was a backup player. He wasn't! He was actually a key player.

When you manage in BSS, an unemployed player can often be a key one for you.

What, so your justification and argument in the your rpevious post had absolutely no relevance to this dicussion? :confused: Either way, agree to disgree, I think it's realistic, but I know from past experience that you think 09 is incredibly unrealistic.

What, so your justification and argument in the your rpevious post had absolutely no relevance to this dicussion? :confused: Either way, agree to disgree, I think it's realistic, but I know from past experience that you think 09 is incredibly unrealistic.

Try actually reading what I said, please.

I pointed out very simply that players know the basis on which they are signed and gave some examples.

You assumed for some extraordinary reason that because the player in question was previously unemployed he must be a backup. Presumably, you don't manage in the lower leagues or you would have realised that this wasn't necessarily going to be the case.

I signed a key player for no money. Of course I was 'delighted' and so would anybody with a grain of sense have been.

It is simply not realistic, however you look at it.

Rupal, I have a few questions if I may, just to clarify.

How old was the player in question?

What was the actual question and the answer you gave?

I'm only guessing but perhaps the player thought your answer was a bit over the top. Perhaps he is very ambitious and driven, and would have reacted better if you had played down the move, because he believes that your club ought to be signing players of his quality and the fact that you are 'delighted' indicates otherwise.

Just a guess. Impossible to tell without more information.

I get annoyed by the decisions for Manager of the Year; it always goes to the league winners. It should go to the biggest overachievers.

I get annoyed by the decisions for Manager of the Year; it always goes to the league winners. It should go to the biggest overachievers.

Is that unrealistic?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_League_Manager_of_the_Year

Check the history there. The last time it was won by somebody who didn't win the title was in 2001!

Unrealistic: players can't settle down

The problem: I can understand how a Brazilian have trouble adjusting to Germany, but a Serbian, or an Italian? It's only a few hours drive. In the day and age of supersonic flights, internet and cellphone, this is way overblown in the game.

The fix: maybe take distance between the countries into account, or better yet, remove this "feature" altogether.

Unrealistic Area: 3D Match engine

The problem: Very little crosses completed.

Improvements: Having the best wingers doesn't even yeald better than 35% for crosses completed. Real-life stats show that Italian clubs can get an average of 40% completed. This means that perhaps the best may get around 60% with the poorer teams getting perhaps 10-20%. The EPL also get around 22.5% average between all clubs in the top flight. So the best teams may get around 40% with the bottom clubs 10-20%. Some tweaks are required in this area. If I have the best wingers and co. Id expect to see them complete around 50-70% of crosses, even being in the best league, if those wingers were in a poor league then id expect to see an average of around 70-90%. If I'm Celtic or Rangers id expect to see around 40-50% - they play in a poor league against poor opposition, if they played in the EPL then they'd probably only get around 10-20% of completed crosses. Getting my point?

I'd like to know where you came up with your figures.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/01/26/league-comparison-2-crossing/

This website shows that the average crosses completed is around 20% in the top flight of Italy, Spain, France, England and Germany.

Unrealistic: players can't settle down

The problem: I can understand how a Brazilian have trouble adjusting to Germany, but a Serbian, or an Italian? It's only a few hours drive. In the day and age of supersonic flights, internet and cellphone, this is way overblown in the game.

The fix: maybe take distance between the countries into account, or better yet, remove this "feature" altogether.

Totally disagree. Of course some players find it difficult to settle in different countries! It happens in real life and should happen in the game.

Unrealistic Area: Tactics

The Problem: Once you click "confirm changes" in the tactics screen you are unable to change tactics/cancel a substitution, etc.. despite what may happen in the game prior to your tactical changes being implemented/substitution being made.

Improvement: Until the tactical changes go into effect/substitution is made the manager should be able to do what he wants with the tactics, cancel the proposed changes, or prevent the substitution.

This has happened in every iteration of FM for years and has been complained about every year. It serves no purpose whatsoever and is completely unrealistic. FIX IT!

Totally disagree. Of course some players find it difficult to settle in different countries! It happens in real life and should happen in the game.

Also, supersonic passenger flying is a thing of the past

Totally disagree. Of course some players find it difficult to settle in different countries! It happens in real life and should happen in the game.

Name five.

Name five.

That's just petulant. The ultimate 'going on the defensive' question:rolleyes:

Andrey Arshavin publicly struggled to adapt to England at first:p

Name five.

How about a whole starting XI.

None of those players settled in England and adapted to English football successfully.

If that's not enough, how about Ian 'it was like living in a foreign country' Rush, or Jimmy 'moving to Italy turned me into an alcoholic' Greaves. Paul Gascoigne drove himself crazy at Lazio.

Or how about Emiliano Insua, who believes it has taken him three years to settle in England.

Stan Collymore, lasted about three games in Spain, before realising he couldn't adapt.

So there is another five for you.

I mean seriously, moving to another country and settling is extremely challenging. Learning the language, moving yourself and your family, adapting to the culture and mentality, making new friends and all of that stuff. And then we're often talking about young men without much life experience as well. It's a major thing.

It's in the game because it's real life.

Rupal, I have a few questions if I may, just to clarify.

How old was the player in question?

What was the actual question and the answer you gave?

I'm only guessing but perhaps the player thought your answer was a bit over the top. Perhaps he is very ambitious and driven, and would have reacted better if you had played down the move, because he believes that your club ought to be signing players of his quality and the fact that you are 'delighted' indicates otherwise.

Just a guess. Impossible to tell without more information.

The player was 27 years old and I was asked (can't remember exact wording) about my reaction to getting him (it's the first question I think). He has a 'balanced and normal personality' according to my assman. As he is a key player and I didn't have to pay a fee for him (Transfer budget is £0), I chose the first option to answer, which indicated that I was delighted to get him for peanuts (again, not the actual phrase but the meaning's clear enough). As he came to a club with a very modest reputation which was forecast to end 20th, I doubt he'd have any illusions about the general quality of players I could sign.

Anyway, I've scrapped the save now, as I've been experimenting with various different formations and he wouldn't be needed for what I'm currently doing!

It's not a big issue really, anyway. But, just like various other things about press conferences, because there always seems to be the possibility of a common sense, truthful answer getting an adverse reaction, one tends to avoid any conferences that one can and to give 'no comment' answers in the ones that one has to go to (safer than letting one's assman mess things up I think). Press conferences are rather a chore as far as I'm concerned!

EDIT - another daft press conference response (though it didn't surprise me in the slightest, given my cynicism about the way this 'feature' seems to work). You are asked how you think your first match will go. My pre-season has been absolutely brilliant. Have won every game but the last one, scoring 3 or 4 goals in each match. The last game was only a 2-2 draw, but, given that it was against Fulham reserves and Weston-super-Mare are in the Blue Square South, it was a really excellent result. Of COURSE you would go into a match confident of a good result under those circumstances but (equally 'of course') FM says that your squad would react badly if you say so. I know about 'pressure' and all the rest but REALLY!!!!! Utterly unrealistic in my opinion.

It just reinforces what I said above in my mind. If it's NEVER going to be OK to use positive responses (which is what seems to be the case), what's the point of having them in? Once more, you simply have to guess what the game wants you to say, which often bears little relation to what someone would say in real life. Or you simply hit the 'no comment' response all the time and what on earth is the point of that?

Just thought id bump it to see if there are any fresh ideas.