Online play: Will Sports Interactive ever embrace the 21st century?

Surely this has to be the next big thing for the series?

I mean currently we're stuck with a system of playing online that is more consistent with an early nineties FPS, the fact we have to know a person's IP address previously in order to play against them, coupled with the fact most people have to download an exterior program in order to make connectivity possible (thanks Hamachi), it all really just adds up to a serious load of bollocks.

I'm one of about five people who owned Football Manager for the Xbox 360. For the many thing it did wrong, the ability to connect to players automatically with no hassle and to not then have to go through continue screen after continue screen to play each other was nothing short of revelatory.

In fact I would go so far to say that the fantasy draft online mode (both players are able to draft players in turn to create an ultimate side and then face each other) is one of their most inspired creations. Couple that with user created cup tournaments with up to eight players, one has to wonder why innovations from FIVE YEARS AGO are still not present in a modern gaming world where most consumers expect a certain standard of online functionality.

I've been thinking this for a good two years, but never raised the issue, but when I come to think of it, the online aspect of Football Manager shouldn't even exist in its current state its so embarrassing.

I can only live in hope, I anticipate another year of NEW MEDIA INTERACTIONS and COMPLEX BOARD DISCUSSIONS. Thank **** the game gets the football part right.

FM Live? filler filler

connecting two xboxes and two pc's is very different, im sure SI are working on improving FM live but its no where near as popular the majority of people play FM as a single player or a few people on the same computer.

If you want to play online play FM LIVE, simple.

I think it's pretty stupid to say "If you want to play online play FM LIVE" given that doesn't offer the experience 90% of people who go into playing Football Manager online want. People want to take charge of a team and test their ability against another human opponent, be it a friend or someone random, but they don't want to have to wait around for matches to occur, they want to dance right there and then.

On top of that, the vast majority of people are going to want to use their favourite team against their opponent's favourite team, something FM Live doesn't offer.

Of course the process of connecting two xboxes and two pc's is different, but that doesn't mean we should be given the poor method we have now. A simple lobby system would solve go a long way to making the process a lot more streamlined and is something games have had for a very long time.

Ultimately, if you have a friend and you want to play him in a match over FM, it will take you some time to get that want transferred into a reality, which isn't good enough.

definitely needs improving, the fm live advice is pretty poor

I actually find the online play totally adequate. I mean, its a bit slow given the intense amount of data being transferred, but apart from that, I've enjoyed online games against friends spanning two seasons or so.

They should never remove the core multiple player season mode we have now, but the options that can be included on top of that are numerous. The most galling factor is that they have implemented them successfully in the games before (albeit on a different format).

The ability to quick match someone would be unbearably brilliant, as would the ability to have tournaments where the only people you played were humans, et cetera. I can't see how people can consider the current system satisfactory.

Dont think ive played online since FM08, used to really enjoy it too, but now its just too much trouble and Hamachi never seems to work for me now.

I agree completely that online and network play could be considerably improved. FM Live is definitely not a substitute for playing regular FM against another human.

My guess is that due to the fact that it's quite a minority of people that do play in that fashion it's not been particularly high on SI's totem pole of priorities, but it would also shock me if they didn't at least have it on the table at the beginning of each development cycle.

I've honestly not played an online game since the late SI CM games, but when I did I found it perfectly adequate even then, IP-based connections are fine, I mean, if you're wanting a long-term game at all, you're going to want to play with people you know, and it's not overly complex to use an IP address to sort things, in fact I'd be far more content with that than many other ways.

I honestly expect SI doesn't lose a single programmer to writing any kind of online code, to be honest. The current online system is perfectly workable, and again, if you want some sort of football MMORPG, there's FML.

ok i can maybe understand a better system for multiplayer being put in but is it really needed not really as the online currently i have no problems with.

maybe a few more options added to client and server sides to help improve performance but you have to remember fm is not like another game tbh all it is a database with a fancy interaction screen and this generates alot more information then your average game for example COD.

ip based connection im fine with as its not exactly hard to set one up and you dont even need to use hamachi like most people seem to think you do aslong as u have ports open on router it will run fine off your normal ip and even if they did implement a new more upto date type of internet connection you still would have to open those ports for fm to work without using hamachi

I think FM works best as a single player game and multiplayer would be difficult to incorporate as everyone plays at different speeds, so you could spend a whole evening waiting to play one match because the team you are about to play is away from his PC having his tea.

I think FM works best as a single player game and multiplayer would be difficult to incorporate as everyone plays at different speeds, so you could spend a whole evening waiting to play one match because the team you are about to play is away from his PC having his tea.

There is already an online mode. It has a "force continue" option in case someone goes away or takes too long, as well as a few other features.

I do agree that a more intuitive system for online play would be good. There's clearly the support there for it, hence FM Live.

They should include quick match option where you could take the team you're managing, extract current squad and face off against your friend in a quick match. That would be fun. It wouldn't matter if squads came from different seasons or even had same players. Match engine could read players stats and how tactics are set up and then resolve the game using standard FM engine.

I think this topic needs to change to a demand for the feature to export your team for a face off, best of 3 or small tournament. Include this and it would open the online part of FM to a whole load of people who dont have time to spend 5 hours at night with friends to play FM.

Having played FM and CM online for years I think it is pretty good although big improvements could be made.

Hosting games with routers is more about people not knowing how their equipment works rather than the game itself.

Processing more time with a click of continue would be great. At the moment the game stops far too often which is fine playing solo but online is annoying even with the force continue option. Would like to see the game stop maybe once or twice a day so everyone does all their bits and pieces at once.