Adding RPG elements to Football Manager

Hello guys, this is going to be a long read so, if you don’t like that kind of thing, I prepared a 2-line summary of the whole thing:

“Introducing role-playing elements to FM, such as club creation, club purchasing, pseudo-director of football role, local interaction (city level) and enhanced player interaction”.

That’s what I wrote about, so, if you are still interested, please read on.

Intro:

Ok, I was doing some heavy thinking about a game idea I have… an RPG title. While I was doing this, I was getting ready to watch Manchester United’s UCL match against Bayern München, so I set-up the TV and fired up FM2010, like I usually do when I happen to watch football and the PC is in the vicinity. That’s when I started thinking about RPG and football… and Football Manager.

As most of you, I enjoy progression. And when it comes to game progression, well, that’s what does it for me. I need regular feedback about my performance, guess that’s what I like about FM… being constantly bombarded with information about the team and the players. But after a while, maybe not a while… after playing a save for a long time, things get a little basic. I enjoyed getting the English Hero achievement, and I enjoyed moving to Hamburg and winning everything over and over for years… getting my stadium, having tons of money for transfers… but as 2048 is ending (in the game of course) the motivation is not the same.

Usually, when that happens, you just start over. Find another team, another league and try to be the top dog again. Well, that’s not working either… and I’m the kind of guy that, to make things ‘interesting’, never uses the Real Players option after the first save. So, I love FM and I know if I had slightly more connection with the game’s evolution, I could be a happy ‘wily-old manager’ managing, perhaps, my own club.

Club Creation:

Right into it. I know you can make something similar happen using the editor (Create a -insert your name- United team) but I mean an actual story behind it.

I thought that, right from the start, you could have something to achieve leading your own team to success. You start your new game, and you could manage a new club based in the lowest league available in the country you choose. I’ve thought of a few scenarios about the club’s background, but the argument I like the most is this: “After years of managing a small community team that plays on weekend with similar teams, your players and you have decided to take it to the next level. After proving yourselves and having enormous patience, your team just got a spot in the – league name – league for next season. Everything is settled for the beginning of your managing career”. You get to name the team, choose the city where it’s based but most importantly, you just start managing at the lowest level possible. A team with no-reputation whatsoever… the only way, is up.

To add more details to this description:

- After a while, you get a friend managing the financial aspects of the team.

- You could get some pro-bono staff, people that are willing to give you a hand making something out of the team.

- Local authorities could provide some rented spaces for a basic field and training facilities.

- Etc.

After that, is game as usual, but you could see how your team ‘grows’ from nothing. It could create a whole new dimension about being involved with the club. Imagine getting big enough and having the ‘board’ (your buddies) kick you out for bad performance… a la Steve Jobs. Teams take a long time to develop and maybe, managing for 30 or 40 seasons it’s going to be way more fun than just collecting virtual silverware for that virtual palmarès in my head.

Club Purchasing:

Really self-explanatory. But it’s not you the one who buys the team; you get to choose the club though. The backstory would be that some acquaintance of you purchases a team, and plans a complete overhaul of the club including giving you the chance of being the manager. I thought of this option for two reasons:

1- Maybe you want to be more active within the club’s administration but you don’t want to start from the bottom. Purchasing a club gives you chance to choose any team, I also thought of a financial aid based on the selected club. The lower the club, the higher the investment from the new management. Nothing like giving millions to a low-level club, this should be proportionate, just enough to be comfortable at the beginning.

2- Having some direct relationship (maybe through a family link or an old friendship) with the management actually makes a more believable access to the club’s finances and the kind of liberty regarding purchases of new players.

Director of Football

I thought of this as a way of overruling the board. Every time you ask the board something, improving the training facilities for instance, you get an answer for the AI. And sometimes, it’s not the best answer or the answer you would like… and well, maybe I’ll ask again next season. Enabling a director of football would give you access to make choices based on the club’s situation and possibilities.

For instance, you want to expand the stadium, you would get these options:

- The current infrastructure allows for 5000 seat expansion to reach a maximum capacity. This option is within our budget. ( * * * * - )

- We could build a new 35000 seats stadium, but given our current situation, the club should ask for a 20 million loan from the bank. If we do this now, it would be a 30-year loan. ( * * - - - )

- Give the board a whole season to present a better alternative from the bank and the sponsors. (* * * - - )

This should give you a few more options for managing the club as a whole. Some people want this kind of freedom, some don’t, and that is why every idea posted here can be enabled or disabled at the start of a new game. These are options, not another way to play the game.

UEFA Licence progression

I’m sure a lot of you guys know about something called UEFA Pro Licence, it’s a requirement for managing top clubs and managing in the UCL for instance. Arsene Wenger has one, Rafa has one too, Sir Alex Ferguson has an FA Diploma… but I’m sure no one is going to ask for his licence ever. In fact, 2010 is the last year to get one or not being able to manage at the top level; if you follow UEFA’s coaching rules. So, for the sake of immersion, let’s say you need one.

The ‘Leveling’ goes like this:

UEFA One < UEFA Two < UEFA B < UEFA A < UEFA Pro

If you have experience as a professional player, you get a free pass straight to UEFA B.

That’s for reality. How to apply some of this in-game? Well, we could use what we have. If you check the learning modules for the Pro Licence, you could see a lot of things you do within the game right now:

- Handling professional players

- Styles of play

- Key game analysis

- Mental preparation

- Sports medicine

- Specialist training

- Game related training

- Fitness and conditioning

- The media and technology

- Ethics and code of conduct

- Business management

- Club structure

- Contracts and agents

- Planning including rest and recovery

- Study visits

- Practical work and problem solving

See?

Well, I thought that you could advance through the ranks answering some questions as months go by. The same way you get interviewed, but with an actual score. Two things could happen from this scenario:

1- You cheat. Because I can, and well, because someone posted all the answers somewhere.

2- Or you learn a thing or two about the finer aspects of football doing some research or thinking before answering.

Maybe the questions should use a separate database, being updated regularly and handled by the community. Obviously, you should get info about each topic through your in-game mail with topics including tactics, physiotherapy and club management. Guess it doesn’t hurt to learn a thing or two and if you know it all, this is optional too.

I think it would be very cool to have your UEFA Pro badge right by your name, and a “Qualified for the UEFA Pro Licence in 2014 with a perfect score” in your biography.

Local community interaction

I haven’t given this one a lot of thought. But it makes sense to me in the way that if you start managing a local team, from a fairly small city or region… something must happen to that city once that team reaches the Premier League.

- The city population could rise, because of the increased tourism. Given you access to a larger stadium, and being an integral part of the city, maybe that expansion permission could be more easily attained.

- Getting a few more feedback options for every achievement from the team. Every time you win something, the board says something about it but, you don’t get the sense the obvious excitement of that town or city for getting that trophy.

I took Salisbury City from the Conference to the Premier League and well… yay, Premier League and that was it.

Enhanced player interaction

These is based in a very cool thread from the new-gen that happened to be the manager’s son, if you followed the right clues, like same last name and favorite personnel. I’m sure a lot of you followed that story with interest; it was like a TV-series and surely felt like a whole new game for that player.

You are managing your eight season, and suddenly your eldest son decides to follow a football career. You could decide whether to add him to your youth team or send him to another club’s youth team. Do not worry, the link is still there.

Well, you could encourage him after a not-so good game; send him regular interaction mail to see how he is developing and so on. This could work even if you don’t have him playing for you; in fact, I think it could be more interesting. Imagine you are managing in the Championship and your son wins the EPL title and sends a message: “…and I want to thank my dad, for all the encouragement through the years that lead me to where I am today…” If after a lot of playing, and helping your son develop, you get that message and don’t feel a thing, you are becoming a robot… no, seriously, I think it could be a nice touch. With enough luck your son could have a world-class potential and with enough interaction (and right decisions) you could help him get to the top. Think of it as a side quest of your game.

Ok. Guess that’s it for now. Hopefully I’m not stepping into anyone’s old ideas here, and if I did, well, I’m sorry for that. Also say that English is not my native language, so any mistakes here are because of my Chilean/Spanish-based thinking. I hope some of you get to read the whole thing, maybe get some feedback and most importantly, commencing a conversation regarding the role-playing elements in our favorite game.

First of all, well done for a well thought out post

Club Creation

The editor already gives us this. It may not be entirely friendly, but I can't help but think developing this would be time wasted, time that could be spent on other areas. Also, I love the realistic side of FM, creating my own club always bothers me because it always feels unrealistic. That's just a personal thing though.

Director of Football

The idea of being a DoF or having extra control is always put down on the forums. 'It's Football MANAGER' is the usual response. However, I'm warming to the idea of having more control than a manager really would.

UEFA Licence progression

I think CM had something like this a few years back at the start of the game. You got a bunch of footballing questions to answer before you started and I think it affected your reputation... or something. I think it would be nice at the start of the game but not sure what it could really affect. It would be a nice addition if there was a point to it, rather than, you have to get your license because, well, you have to.

Local community interaction

I think getting a bigger fanfare in general is something that SI should look at. When I win something, I'm always delighted but you get the same old messages every time and it gets pretty boring. I'm not sure if this is the way to do it but the idea of getting more fanfare is good.

Enhanced player interaction

Imagine you are managing in the Championship and your son wins the EPL title and sends a message: “…and I want to thank my dad, for all the encouragement through the years that lead me to where I am today…”

I love this idea of your son praising you like this. Not that I've ever managed to get a son in FM

None of that is viable or anything to do with being a Football Manager

Enhanced player interaction

This part gets a from me but not any of the other stuff, very well written post though and always nice to see members of the community striving to help improve the game.

None of that is viable or anything to do with being a Football Manager

Wrong and wrong.

Wrong and wrong.

Ahhhhhh April Fool!!! BAZINGA

Yeh some good ideas.

I think keeping the game fresh and appealing during long-term games is one of SI's biggest challenges. Time after time I've just lost my enthusiasm when I hit a certain amount of years and lose interest in the game. Once you have your tactics set and you the know the types of players that you need it becomes boring. I've always been slightly frustrated with FM for the fact that nothing happens in long-term games. You move to a bigger stadium occassionally and win a few awards and that's it.

I think increasing the chances of managing your son would add a little more playability to the game in the long-run.

First of all, well done for a well thought out post

Club Creation

The editor already gives us this. It may not be entirely friendly, but I can't help but think developing this would be time wasted, time that could be spent on other areas. Also, I love the realistic side of FM, creating my own club always bothers me because it always feels unrealistic. That's just a personal thing though.

Director of Football

The idea of being a DoF or having extra control is always put down on the forums. 'It's Football MANAGER' is the usual response. However, I'm warming to the idea of having more control than a manager really would.

UEFA Licence progression

I think CM had something like this a few years back at the start of the game. You got a bunch of footballing questions to answer before you started and I think it affected your reputation... or something. I think it would be nice at the start of the game but not sure what it could really affect. It would be a nice addition if there was a point to it, rather than, you have to get your license because, well, you have to.

Local community interaction

I think getting a bigger fanfare in general is something that SI should look at. When I win something, I'm always delighted but you get the same old messages every time and it gets pretty boring. I'm not sure if this is the way to do it but the idea of getting more fanfare is good.

Enhanced player interaction

I love this idea of your son praising you like this. Not that I've ever managed to get a son in FM

Thanks. And it's nice to see you took the time to read the whole thing.

I really like the idea of purchasing a club after many years in management. Maybe not to do all the director activities, but to eliminate wage controls/transfer budgets requests, etc.

Imagine taking over a lower league team with 10+ million. Whatever wage budget you want, no limits on transfer spending, and upgrade whatever till you run out of money. It would certainly add a slightly new dimension to the game without diverging too far away from the base concept.

And no, it is not realistic. Who cares? Mangers don't negotiate contracts either.

My idea about buying a club was simple.

I've made this post about 20 times already in various posts.

At the end of your career you retire. You choose the retirement date, you could be 70 or 90 or whatever. But ideally you are done by 70ish, who knows how that is decided anyway.

With all the years in the game you accumulate wealth. So when you retire you're presented with a list of clubs that are within your wealth to purchase, you only need 51% to have full control anyway.

So at the end of a career your retire, and you buy a club, this new club then you add yourself as a manager of this club, and that club has a massive cash injection.

Now you at this stage as a new manager are fresh out of the blocks... but the chairman is your former self. With the same attributes you accumulated, like interference with club, discipline policy, media handling etc... all affecting the way you (the chairman runs the club), so if you had a policy in your management days of spending big on players then you (as a manager) would be expected to buy big (by the chairman, a.k.a. your former self)

At the end of the day, you retire, add yourself as a new manager to a club a that your wealth you've gained can afford to buy.

You start as a new manager, off the blocks, and the club has the wealth that you built up over the years.

Some managers don't even buy players.

As an RPG fan myself, I think this is a great idea, and congrats on a very detailed and interesting opening post, a very rare commodity in this forum of late.

The RPG area is a big "no" for me, it would quickly turn out like Jumpers for Goalposts (a flash RPG that is a bit awful) or FIFA Manager. I think your first two suggestions are beyond the realms of anything I'd like to get anywhere near FM.

Director of Football- wrong name, possibly. In England, Director of Football means someone who controls the manager on behalf of the board. Chief Executive would probably be better. Anyway, I think getting more say (new stadium/more seats, for example) is a good idea, but giving the manager full control is unrealistic, and again, out of place in this game. At the end of the day, it's the owner's money.

UEFA license- I'm sorry, this would be quite terrible IMO. Being given exams and so forth is unnecessary and wouldn't be fun. It seems very artificial and gimmicky.

Local community- I think this should get a mention, though small. "Thousands turned out to welcome the players on an open top bus tour, showing the local area's support and gratitude to the team for the prestige they have given the area. Special praise has been reserved for manager X, who has been behind the whole thing." That would be good. Talk of extra tourism is a bit much, though.

Enhanced player interaction- more player interaction is definitely needed, though I'm not sure if the hours spent on coding stuff especially for the 1 in 10,000 players who ever get a son is worth it. I think general player interaction should be focused on more heavily.

About DoF... well, actually this is one of the most difficult aspects to control. How much freedom do you want to give your players? You may recall, if you have played a 'competing game from a different developer', you could get control of EVERYTHING... and that may sound like a good thing, but quickly into the game you get hitted by the paradox of choice and start getting frustrated. So, I'm sure SI has given countless hours of thought to what is the extent of control they should give players without scaring them, and eventually came up with the best decisions from playtesting and QA till exhaustion. I'm never going to say that developing any of what I've written here is easy o should be done, but it always pays to ask.

I'd like to see them add some of the Football Manager Live 'RPG' elements to the Football Manager series, such as the type of manager you are.

I'd like a own a club option, but it should be from wealth you've accumilated and you are approached by a consortium. You can add a small bit of funds every now and again but you have to maintain some money (10-20%) for living costs. You are not the chairman but maybe manager.

I'd also like DoF's in general to do their job. They barely do anything. I'd like to see them sign a random player and try and make you play a certain line up (with the random player in it), they might handle training for you, support your claim for better facilities, choose an affiliate on their own without your recommendation (when you ask) or in some horror job where you're club's been taken over they might decide your tactics and line-ups and make you just handle training, in a bid to force you to resign.

I would like the option to be one, as some manager's may be a Director of Football (Dennis Wise, Sven Goran-Eriksson).

There are some good ideas in the original post and some that are mediocre at best.

I feel the club creation idea is completely unrealistic, but I can see that some people might go for it. It definately isn't my cup of tea and if it were ever introduced I would avoid it.

The club purchasing is the worst idea of the lot. The only manager I can think of who bought a club is Barry Fry... who was also manager of Peterborough at the time. There are some instances of owners becoming managers - Mark Goldberg at Crystal Palace (failed), the American at Chester City (dismally failed) and Jeff King at Canvey Island (very successful). Being chairman takes away the point of the game though.

Director of Football is definately lacking in the game right now. All he is is a name and a wage on your staff list. He doesn't do anything. This definately needs expanding in game. While the OP's ideas are going on the right track, they need fine tuning.

I think UEFA coaching badges are taking it too far. We want to play a game, not take exams!

The final two - community interaction and enhanced player interaction are very good ideas, and if these can be taken on and developed will definately be worthy additions. Your in game son definately needs more interaction - a news item saying he has become a football will be a good start.

The RPG area is a big "no" for me, it would quickly turn out like Jumpers for Goalposts (a flash RPG that is a bit awful) or FIFA Manager. I think your first two suggestions are beyond the realms of anything I'd like to get anywhere near FM.

couldn't have said it better myself, so i won't

One RPG element is a must for FM and that is Team Talks.IRL you can say what ever you want to the players but in FM you only have 5 sentences and even they are confusing so a Team Talk attribute is a must.