[Discussion thread] Best layouts/formats for FMCU careers - from the readers point of view

Quite simply a thread where we debate what exactly sparks your interest as a reader - providing you do read stuff. Now let's not kid ourselves, by posting in FMCU we are making an exercise of attention seeking towards our game experience, regardless on whether that is a conscious need or not. There is a sort of pleasure about writing and documenting what happens in our games, I think most of us write to entertain ourselves, yet it's not as fun if nobody interacts with it. Hence, an unwritten rule has arisen where it's polite to go occasionally read and comment on the careers of people that do the same to yours.

Yet besides the politeness of it, many careers are genuinely fun to read and follow. So what makes it fun? Perhaps the writer is managing in a nation/club that appeals to you, or is going through an unusual/interesting challenge. Perhaps the writer's style is captivating. Let's focus on the style and presentation. Is having to click on lots of links to figure out the story putting you off? Do you like to read huge posts detailing everything, or don't have the patience/time to do it? Do you lose interest if there's no regular updates on a daily basis? Do you lose interest if there's too many pictures/videos and the page takes too long to load? (with the forum's huge default of 100 posts/page this can be a serious issue - struggling with it in my thread as I like to post a lot of pictures).

Personally I'm going to be honest - lengthy match-by-match reports put me off as I don't have the time to follow it in such detail. But I can see why it would be nice as a writer, as someone who does 2 or 3 updates per season it can sometimes take a long time to stop the game, take all the screenies and write - perhaps it's easier to spread it out, writing after every match. Opening a poll on this.

Fairly new round these parts but gone for once a season. Every match is too much reading material and not enough happens in a month to keep it interesting. Mid-season etc is also pretty good to follow if things are hanging on a knife edge for promotion or relegation but I prefer a comprehensive review at the end of the season.

Things I like:

1.Put all the important stuff (tables/results/graphs/finances etc) on top or at the bottom of update,and put the links in bold.

2.Pre-season,mid-season,end of season updates.Any further big or small tidbits inbetween is appreciated.

3.Keep it short and sweet,we (readers) want you to play more so we get more short sweet updates.

Things I don't like much:

1.Links placed inside the text,especially if it's not bolded.

2.Big "walls" of text.

I've tried to lay out my career the same way I like reading other careers; Pre-season, mid-season and post-season, with the post-season update being a fairly comprehensive season review. I also like little tidbits in between updates which keep the thread interesting (I probably use this more since I'm a fairly slow player, micromanagement FTW) like interesting results etc. I like to see screenshots of best players, squad, transfers, anything that makes me feel immersed in a person's career. I've seen the careers written by those in the LLM forum, and while they are witty and interesting, they don't connect as easily with the reader since they don't contain screenshots.

I can deal with detail; I often find careers which detail exploits all over the world to be quite enthralling, but the careers that keep me most entertained are those with infrequent but immersive updates about large chunks of a season as opposed to individual matches, not that I have anything against those layouts too .

Finally, punctuation and grammar are key; nobody's perfect, but there's no excuse for simple laziness when it comes to writing updates, you should try to make the reader feel like you are making an effort to engage them.

Every career is different though and I enjoy each one in its own way, people should update in the way they feel most comfortable and which provides the most enjoyment for them too.

Every career is different though and I enjoy each one in its own way, people should update in the way they feel most comfortable and which provides the most enjoyment for them too.

Yeah I agree on this, again the purpose of writing FMCU careers are often to entertain ourselves above the readers, and each writer has their own style - there's no need to sacrifice your style if you enjoy it. A bit of feedback doesn't hurt tho, hence this discussion!

A bit of feedback doesn't hurt tho, hence this discussion!

I read most of the active career updates threads no matter how they are formatted and executed.

However in my first post I forgot the one thing I wish people would not do:

Please,please,please do not update the first post with your career stats/moves etc.I don't always follow a career from the get-go and it's rather annoying to accidentally read that your career path is (an example) Truro-Cardiff-Liverpool-Inter-Barcelona before I've even started reading. Please.

I read most of the active career updates threads no matter how they are formatted and executed.

However in my first post I forgot the one thing I wish people would not do:

Please,please,please do not update the first post with your career stats/moves etc.I don't always follow a career from the get-go and it's rather annoying to accidentally read that your career path is (an example) Truro-Cardiff-Liverpool-Inter-Barcelona before I've even started reading. Please.

Definately agree with this. I'm only just catching up on a lot of the stories in here and the ones with updates in first or second post spoil it slightly.

I generally always went September-February-Season end for my updates, but recently I have changed to a month-by-month layout, simply as it's quicker to write. This new system allows me to stick in various bits I feel are interesting/add something to the general feel of the thread/save

Definately agree with this. I'm only just catching up on a lot of the stories in here and the ones with updates in first or second post spoil it slightly.

I 3rd this opinion, I don't like seeing what people have done before I start reading the thread. Much prefer to start off with no idea how the career is going to go.

I actually agree, I know I do it myself (but might remove it if it bugs people that much) as for some people it's easier, especially if the career has lasted ages (actually I like having it in for myself), and have learned to quickly scroll past it in other threads. I don't have a preference for in-game frequency, and stick to once/(twice or split into seperate posts if it's a lot in one go), so between monthly and once/twice a season is good. For me one of the joys of playing FM is the unfolding narrative nature of a save, so it shouldn't go too slowly with massive match reports or have too little of that nature to take in, though I do still enjoy a lot who do go for the short sectioned approach so it's not that big a thing, simply my personal style. I only go match by match to split the text up as I've been getting better with details in the monthly section 'diary' form I write in (people who got in quick might have noticed I forgot to split the last Airdrie update up), having seen that I don't have to have a lot to say for individual matches to do that.

Just found a good way to get rid of the spoiling issue without deleting the initial post summarizing the career's progress - put it into a spoiler tag, then use white color text within the code tags. Problem solved.

Wouldn't have noticed that was an issue if not for the feedback here, thanks.

I only go match by match to split the text up as I've been getting better with details in the monthly section 'diary' form I write in (people who got in quick might have noticed I forgot to split the last Airdrie update up), having seen that I don't have to have a lot to say for individual matches to do that.

I actually like your match-by-match write-up,it's short,it's a general feel of the match and not commentary,and it's well laid out.

put it into a spoiler tag, then use white color text within the code tags. Problem solved.

Wouldn't have noticed that was an issue if not for the feedback here, thanks.

Sounds like a win-win,and you're welcome

I was wondering about 'spoiler' boxes, and/or font colours, but wasn't sure if it could be done.

Spoiler tags definately best of both worlds. As now I can see what I've done over my career but those who don't want to see don't have to. Great idea ​Noikeee

I try and do it how I'd like to read it, three updates per season unless something interesting happens, short and sharp as possible. I rambled on a bit on my FM11 thread so tried to tone it down a bit this time, seems to be going down alright!

I only changed from 3 updates to monthly because people said it was too hard to read

Im new to this - just started my own thread just a couple of weeks ago. I dont know if people are enjoying it or not, but the general concept is to give an indepth view into the world of my save as a whole, writing reports on the major tournaments and competitions, as well as my own clubs Preseason, mid season, and end season reviews. Soon, I want to begin writing spotlights on certain players I feel deserve to further immerse the reader in the world of the save. Of course, readers might be completely put off by this, I dont know!

Spoiler tags definately best of both worlds. As now I can see what I've done over my career but those who don't want to see don't have to. Great idea ​Noikeee

Hope you don't mind that I used the code from your thread to do mine as I wasn't sure what to do otherwise. 'reply with quote' is handy for that sort of thing.

For me, I prefer the three updates a season route. Any more than this and I think I'd spend more time writing updates than I would actually playing the game.

I'm quite happy to read most threads on here, however I'm not a huge fan of big chunks of text. I don't mind a lot of detail on the updates, but I'd like it nicely formatted and/or with a few pictures/links just to keep me interested and create a fuller picture. Full stops and capital letters are a bare minimum too. I know English isn't the first language for some people on here, but I'm not going to spend an age deciphering something that is impossible to read.

For me, I prefer the three updates a season route. Any more than this and I think I'd spend more time writing updates than I would actually playing the game.

I'm quite happy to read most threads on here, however I'm not a huge fan of big chunks of text. I don't mind a lot of detail on the updates, but I'd like it nicely formatted and/or with a few pictures/links just to keep me interested and create a fuller picture. Full stops and capital letters are a bare minimum too. I know English isn't the first language for some people on here, but I'm not going to spend an age deciphering something that is impossible to read.

Couldn't have wrote my preferences any clearer than this . This sums up my preferences perfectly.

I read most of the active career updates threads no matter how they are formatted and executed.

However in my first post I forgot the one thing I wish people would not do:

Please,please,please do not update the first post with your career stats/moves etc.I don't always follow a career from the get-go and it's rather annoying to accidentally read that your career path is (an example) Truro-Cardiff-Liverpool-Inter-Barcelona before I've even started reading. Please.

It's something I've always done and something I always will do. I understand your POV but for me I don't like randomly posting up my career summary every page or so. It's more of an indicator for myself on how I did, and usually after the first page I don't really expect anyone to really read it.

It's self-satisfaction and usually I don't have a lot of time to read 10-20 career threads so I just skim. My posting format has never really changed due to the fact I'm very slow at typing updates and I want to play the game more than updating it. Unless it's something special like MLS or the Canadian team I would make my updates as concise and compact as possible.

Hope you don't mind that I used the code from your thread to do mine as I wasn't sure what to do otherwise. 'reply with quote' is handy for that sort of thing.

Absoultely fine took me a few tries to get it to work myself!

Oh and am I the only one who doesn't really post the Euros but posts CONCACAF Gold Cup updates?

Everybody has their own styles and quirks and really there is no 'best way'.

For me though, there are two musts.

1. Don't post match by match. There is a story forum if you want detail. Once per season or mid season & end of season are my preferences, with important tidbits if felt newsworthy.

2. The writer must attempt to use good English. There is nothing worse or disrespectful to the reader than somebody writing in terrible English and clearly making no effort to write properly. Not everybody is good at English, but it's blindingly obvious when somebody isn't trying. If this is the case, it might be the best in the world in terms of content, but I simply can't be bothered to try and decipher it. If the writer can't be bothered, why should I?

In addition to what I've already said, I like to add that there are a lot of good quality threads around on the forum at the moment.

As expected, the careers from the 'seasoned-pros' are a good read as always, but there is also some interesting stuff from newcomers too. KUTGW