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What do you guys think of it ?

I always have an argument about mates with this

I always use it to search for good young talent and the best players. I mean why not use a facility if its there. Everton use the FM db for players so its no different

However others argue its unrealistic and boring.You don't see wenger seraching for 18y/o and a list of players just pop up

would like to see it restricted in fm11 and how they're going to improve it

It may be unrealistic, but let's remember it's just a game.

If you had to find players any other way it would take forever.

It may be unrealistic, but let's remember it's just a game.

If you had to find players any other way it would take forever.

This.

As much as I like for FM to be realistic I also want it be fun, so I wouldn't really like the OP's idea.

perhaps it could be a voluntary thing at the start of the game. if you think its too easy with the search on then you could turn it off

Although I believe its been improved this year I'm in the scouts only camp and never use the player search.

For realism it depends what you use it for - the PFA have a list of unattached players anyone can browse through for example..

As long as you turn attribute masking on then I think the player search works quite well.

This is worth a read if you are interested in how the scouting happened at Chelsea a few years ago. There's even a mention of a player database in there

I think most big clubs have player databases. Of course they may not be as big as the FM database and the players may not have ratings from 1-20 but I think that some managers employ such databases to "find" players with skills they are especially looking for.

However others argue its unrealistic and boring.You don't see wenger seraching for 18y/o and a list of players just pop up

It might be unrealistic if they looking to play a realistic management simulation game set quite a while ago, maybe even a few decades earlier.

The thing is, that professional clubs cannot afford NOT to have vast databases of players which they can access with any search criteria they need. I know for a fact that a certain Austrian Bundesliga club has such a database which is fed by information from foreign countries by way of contracted clubs, in effect their affiliate clubs. That is a system startingly familiar with how the game works and that's one reason why I'm very happy with the player-search implementation of the game! After acknowleding that it's done this way both in huge Premiership clubs like Chelsea and mid-tier clubs of a rather low rated European league, it stands to reason that other clubs have to do the very same to stay competitive.

I have really no idea how semi-professional or amateur clubs are run, organized or managed and that's the only place where the current in-game system may not work as close to real life as I'd like. Attribute masking could be a bit stricter geographically speaking. What I mean: playing in one regional league should not reveal so much data about players in other regional leagues on the same tier, at least that's what I've come to see playing my current game ascending from England's 8th tier (with maybe only 30% masked).