Can't stand current FM 12 !~~ NEED TO VENT~~~

i got so mad at FM that i made 13 things i want to see in the future FM that wont happen, but at least i feel better after i say it. Meanwhile the actual game engine for the match day simulation is saturated, i find there are a lot of room for improvements in the life outside of football. As of now the players, have no distinction or individuality. There's no real atachment to the players even though the makers of FM are trying to give shape to the players, but to me they are all just numbers on a spreadsheet that are dispensible, in real life, a lot more details are entailed to players:

1) space/time. You can't be in 2 places at the same time. If you are busy on the pitch or if you are negotiating a contract, you should be occupied, and therefore can't multitask at the same time. There should be a daily planner that helps you organize and tell you how much hrs you have left in a day to execute certain activities. ie negotiation for contract would take 2 hrs, watching the team practice would take up the entire morning & part of the afternoon, etc. And sometimes you would not be able to attend practice because you have an appointment or meeting etc.How it should effect the game: adds realism.

2) all meetings with anyone outside the club needs to be arranged by appointment. There should be no instant access like there is now when you need to talk to a staff that is employed outside the club. There should be an option of them rejecting your offer to talk. Your appointment time must coordinate with the time that is free to you. Your allowed time to have meetings should be determined by the free time in the planner. You have the freedom to prioritize each appointments but the time must be mutually agreed. Unrealistic time meetings should be restricted only to different time zones IE no meetings after 10 pm. How it should effect the game: adds realism.

3) The concept of time should be consistant depending on the timezone: if you want to sign a player in asia and you are in europe, then you would have to set an appointment with them that is convinent with them. You can't be negotiating with them in their supposively sleeping time. Saturdays and sundays should be more quiet, less news, etc. If you were flying to an away game ie CL games that are across europe, your allot time to work is shortened. How it should effect the game: add realism

4) there should always be a "form" that would determine performance. Players' form should be updated by your coaches and they would tell you who is in form and who isn't. Right now we pick players with best attributes to start, but in real life it's seldomly the case. How it should effect the game: actual performance during gameday

5) Players and manager and staff phone numbers (Fake numbers of course), so you can 'talk' to them. Everything in the game is attached to a code so why not make it their fake contact numbers?

IE find them when they are missing in practice. There can be a "not pick up phone" by the player which is an indication of the player disrespecting you. Likewise you should have a personal phone and a business phone. Players can call you when they will be late for practice because they are stuck in traffic, or if they were sick or they have to excuse themselves for other things.

Agents and other managers can be calling you on your business phone, your own players and staff should be calling on your personal phone. How it should effect the game: adds realism

6) We should be more involved with the transfer, like you'd actually have to spend time with the player and his family when you negotiate contracts wtih these ppl. Meet in restaurents, hotels are very common. In addition you should be able to pick 1 staff or even a player that help you convince the player to come. A lot of the desire wanting to come, in addition to money, depends on such 'interviews'. How it should effect the game: take up time per day, increase appeal for players to sign for lesser clubs.

7) You should have some kind of life outside of football, off the pitch relationships with the players; ie mancini goes fishing with Vieri. many managers have dinner with the players. Things that help the relationship between the player and the manager. How it would help in the game: Improve loyalty

8) more off the pitch antics and news for players; ie, they get in trouble with the law, or if they have personal issues that want your advice, and you would have to release a press conference to deny alligations or to help them in your personal time. These are all to build a relationship with your players. How it would help in the game: Improve or lower loyalty depending on the player/situation.

9) More off the pitch activies: the bad: drug related charges, clubbing, partying, prostitutes, breaking the law, stealing.

the good stuff: to attend charity, attend player award ceremonies, humanitarian work, etc in general things that would take up your time in addition to crunching the database/spreadsheet with no real improvements to the game. You should be able to sent someone to tail a player to see if he was lying about not going to parties. This should apply only to players that are notorious for being unprofessional. And have the ability to call them or speak to them to confront them if they were lying to such incident. How it should effect the game: adds realism and individuality to distinction to players, separating the kakas and the balotellis.

10) Interaction with the fans, open press conference, photo sessions, autograph sessions, online Q & A forums. This should be different sets of questions other than the press conference, just have to have an option. Like all activities this would take up like hrs of the day. The amount of reception (how many fans show up) can be determined by the day of the event and the popularity of the club in that given city; the best times are on the weekends where not much happens, and hours where fans dont have to work. How it should effect the game: improve fans support, increase reputation of the club.

11) testimonial games How it should effect the game: adds realism

12) you should have some room to make some friends in the game, not real friends of course, just AI. But you should feel like you are NOT the only human in the game. This relates to the phone suggestion. Giving your personal phone number to another manager should be a gesture of goodwill and friendship, esp if it's reciprocated by the other manager. How it should effect the game: improve reputation, rivalry, improve likelihood to accept bid for players playing for friendly managers' teams.

13) You should be able to invite potential signings, who are not convinced to sign for you, to attend a game How it should effect the game: improves likelihood to sign a player who's 50-50 about coming to the team, if the scoreline was favorable.

oh i feel better now that its off my chest.

Having a life outside football? LOL. Going fishing LOL. This isn't the sims...

I'm sorry but none of that sounds like it will make the game any more enjoyable.

Just my opinions!

1) space/time. You can't be in 2 places at the same time. If you are busy on the pitch or if you are negotiating a contract, you should be occupied, and therefore can't multitask at the same time. There should be a daily planner that helps you organize and tell you how much hrs you have left in a day to execute certain activities. ie negotiation for contract would take 2 hrs, watching the team practice would take up the entire morning & part of the afternoon, etc. And sometimes you would not be able to attend practice because you have an appointment or meeting etc.How it should effect the game: adds realism. – Horrible idea, arranging appointments to meet with people?! No thanks!

2) all meetings with anyone outside the club needs to be arranged by appointment. There should be no instant access like there is now when you need to talk to a staff that is employed outside the club. There should be an option of them rejecting your offer to talk. Your appointment time must coordinate with the time that is free to you. Your allowed time to have meetings should be determined by the free time in the planner. You have the freedom to prioritize each appointments but the time must be mutually agreed. Unrealistic time meetings should be restricted only to different time zones IE no meetings after 10 pm. How it should effect the game: adds realism. As above

3) The concept of time should be consistant depending on the timezone: if you want to sign a player in asia and you are in europe, then you would have to set an appointment with them that is convinent with them. You can't be negotiating with them in their supposively sleeping time. Saturdays and sundays should be more quiet, less news, etc. If you were flying to an away game ie CL games that are across europe, your allot time to work is shortened. How it should effect the game: add realism – again as above, I find the idea of making appointments horrible, a feature I would hate, and would probably not buy the game if it was included.

4) there should always be a "form" that would determine performance. Players' form should be updated by your coaches and they would tell you who is in form and who isn't. Right now we pick players with best attributes to start, but in real life it's seldomly the case. How it should effect the game: actual performance during gameday – you do get an idea of their form if you scout them over a few matches, rather than just a report.

5) Players and manager and staff phone numbers (Fake numbers of course), so you can 'talk' to them. Everything in the game is attached to a code so why not make it their fake contact numbers? Again a pointless feature that I find baffling has led you to not being able to stand the game, you can just call them into a meeting, a phone call isnt really needed.

IE find them when they are missing in practice. There can be a "not pick up phone" by the player which is an indication of the player disrespecting you. Likewise you should have a personal phone and a business phone. Players can call you when they will be late for practice because they are stuck in traffic, or if they were sick or they have to excuse themselves for other things.

Agents and other managers can be calling you on your business phone, your own players and staff should be calling on your personal phone. How it should effect the game: adds realism – not really a level of ‘realism’ that’s needed

6) We should be more involved with the transfer, like you'd actually have to spend time with the player and his family when you negotiate contracts wtih these ppl. Meet in restaurents, hotels are very common. In addition you should be able to pick 1 staff or even a player that help you convince the player to come. A lot of the desire wanting to come, in addition to money, depends on such 'interviews'. How it should effect the game: take up time per day, increase appeal for players to sign for lesser clubs. – If you sign a player on his favoured persons list it will increase your chances already I believe. Meeting him in a hotel would make no odds to me, I really don’t care where I meet them.

7) You should have some kind of life outside of football, off the pitch relationships with the players; ie mancini goes fishing with Vieri. many managers have dinner with the players. Things that help the relationship between the player and the manager. How it would help in the game: Improve loyalty – Again pretty pointless to me. I want to manage the team, not hear about how good dinner was.

8) more off the pitch antics and news for players; ie, they get in trouble with the law, or if they have personal issues that want your advice, and you would have to release a press conference to deny alligations or to help them in your personal time. These are all to build a relationship with your players. How it would help in the game: Improve or lower loyalty depending on the player/situation. – Already happens with players missing training after being seen in pubs and clubs etc.

9) More off the pitch activies: the bad: drug related charges, clubbing, partying, prostitutes, breaking the law, stealing.

the good stuff: to attend charity, attend player award ceremonies, humanitarian work, etc in general things that would take up your time in addition to crunching the database/spreadsheet with no real improvements to the game. You should be able to sent someone to tail a player to see if he was lying about not going to parties. This should apply only to players that are notorious for being unprofessional. And have the ability to call them or speak to them to confront them if they were lying to such incident. How it should effect the game: adds realism and individuality to distinction to players, separating the kakas and the balotellis. – Si wont ever add players taking drugs into the game, it isnt really a good idea from the legal side of things

10) Interaction with the fans, open press conference, photo sessions, autograph sessions, online Q & A forums. This should be different sets of questions other than the press conference, just have to have an option. Like all activities this would take up like hrs of the day. The amount of reception (how many fans show up) can be determined by the day of the event and the popularity of the club in that given city; the best times are on the weekends where not much happens, and hours where fans dont have to work. How it should effect the game: improve fans support, increase reputation of the club. – Again not something that I feel is needed, can see it being an ok feature but not one that is needed.

11) testimonial games How it should effect the game: adds realism – I would love this feature.

12) you should have some room to make some friends in the game, not real friends of course, just AI. But you should feel like you are NOT the only human in the game. This relates to the phone suggestion. Giving your personal phone number to another manager should be a gesture of goodwill and friendship, esp if it's reciprocated by the other manager. How it should effect the game: improve reputation, rivalry, improve likelihood to accept bid for players playing for friendly managers' teams. – I don’t think you need to swap number but building relations in the game needs a bit of work.

13) You should be able to invite potential signings, who are not convinced to sign for you, to attend a game How it should effect the game: improves likelihood to sign a player who's 50-50 about coming to the team, if the scoreline was favorable. – I don’t think the FA smile too kindly on things like that

Sorry my opinion seems a bit anti your ideas but I think the whole business about making appointments and giving out phone numbers etc a bit far fetched. Out of all of that number 11 is the only one for me that could be a good inclusion

it might be a little too much details, but its' football management, you manage every aspect there is entailed to footballers. you do much more than playing matches and signing players.

More than half of the news from soccernet are NOT about the actual match.

right now without true new features, each new FM game seems like an update patch. The players aside from the match, are sooo 1 dimensional.

all things aside i think the planner idea is pretty good, it gives you a little more urgency to do things and gives a nice feeling to an actual day with events planned

it might be a little too much details, but its' football management, you manage every aspect there is entailed to footballers. you do much more than playing matches and signing players.

More than half of the news from soccernet are NOT about the actual match.

right now without true new features, each new FM game seems like an update patch. The players aside from the match, are sooo 1 dimensional.

all things aside i think the planner idea is pretty good, it gives you a little more urgency to do things and gives a nice feeling to an actual day with events planned

yes and most of the time it isnt about the manager either. I don't think that the manager gets a message in his inbox telling about ever news article about every player in his squad. The planner is not a good idea in my view, if you want it, us the calender in game and add reminders every 2 hours

1., 2., 3. are all terrible ideas. I don't want the game telling me how much i can do between matches and when i can do them not having the same time resrtictions as real life makes the game far more enjoyable.

4. I already pick players on form. Yes I make a lot of decisions based on stats and coach reports but if a 2* player is performing better than a 3* player i'm more likely to pick the 2* player.

5. Phone numbers? I don't want to call someone if they don't show up I want to fine them and move on. Not to mention an idea like traffic keeping someone from training is just a terrible idea, its a game which means we have the luxury of not having to deal with tedious issues like that.

6. You can already build relationships with the players I don't want to go to a pretend dinner with his made up family.

7. There are always people who suggest this and its never a good idea, it extends the game beyond being a football manager. I have a life in the real world i don't need a fake one with fake players.

8., 9. I believe that if this sort of thing happens with real players SI can get into a bit of legal trouble, however I have seen regens get into trouble for staying out late and then missing training.

10. Just more time wasted tbh, this is a boring side of being a manager and it takes away from the good qualities the game has.

11. This is probably the only good idea you've had although to save memory the game removes players who retire and don't become a manager/coach/scout e.t.c, which means retired players wouldn't be able to come back and play for old teammates. A good idea but i can't say i'm too fussed about it.

12. You can already build relationships with other managers. Again i don't want a fake number just to be added as a tool to build relationships, just a terrible idea.

13. Again more wasted time on something that would only build relationships as much as the current player interaction would. These sort of features are best left simple and quick rather than made elaborate because whatever you do they will still be part of the more boring aspects of managing a football team.

I can't say i'm a fan of your ideas and tbh most of them would make me not want to play the game.

Ok now that i've calmed down a little i can see how i was excessive...but i disagree that the SI ppl can't make realism correlate to more fun. The contract negotiation has become more realistic & detailed and its' much better than the CM version from back in the day.

New features of the game is needed and SI know this because they changed the layout of the game. There's only so much you can improve the simulation engine before you plateau. The quinessential of the game are the matches, now that it's achieved, what's next?

where else do you seek improvements if you ignore the off the pitch aspects?

Among the new changes, only the 'contract negotiation' and 'team talks and conversations include the new tone system' changes has effect on actual game play and enjoyment of the game, and those are the off the pitch aspect of the game.

Most of the audience of the game are long time fans, they can make the game more challenging by making the player do more and be more involved.

Have to agree with the majority, I think if you go to far into adding realism it becomes boring and monotonous, would make the game tedius, imo.

Back to the drawing board I think; didn't see that any of the suggestions viable to the game other than the suggestion of a testimonial. Depending on how the 'Testimonial' the actual match is would be dependent on the inclusion of former players in one of the sides surely; if it didn't it would just be another friendly match that has been dressed up and called a 'Testimonial Match', followed by a message in the inbox saying 'x amount of money has been raised for a charity of player y's choosing' - would add no real game value.

As previously mentioned I think, for former players to play in these games they would surely need to be stored within the game after they retire - or could they appear as name only players similar to how players are automatically created and put in your U18s when you have no keepers.

Back to the drawing board I think; didn't see that any of the suggestions viable to the game other than the suggestion of a testimonial. Depending on how the 'Testimonial' the actual match is would be dependent on the inclusion of former players in one of the sides surely; if it didn't it would just be another friendly match that has been dressed up and called a 'Testimonial Match', followed by a message in the inbox saying 'x amount of money has been raised for a charity of player y's choosing' - would add no real game value.

As previously mentioned I think, for former players to play in these games they would surely need to be stored within the game after they retire - or could they appear as name only players similar to how players are automatically created and put in your U18s when you have no keepers.

Ok now that i've calmed down a little i can see how i was excessive...but i disagree that the SI ppl can't make realism correlate to more fun. The contract negotiation has become more realistic & detailed and its' much better than the CM version from back in the day.

New features of the game is needed and SI know this because they changed the layout of the game. There's only so much you can improve the simulation engine before you plateau. The quinessential of the game are the matches, now that it's achieved, what's next?

where else do you seek improvements if you ignore the off the pitch aspects?

Among the new changes, only the 'contract negotiation' and 'team talks and conversations include the new tone system' changes has effect on actual game play and enjoyment of the game, and those are the off the pitch aspect of the game.

Most of the audience of the game are long time fans, they can make the game more challenging by making the player do more and be more involved.

Its not about ignoring off the pitch aspects though. Its about improving off the pitch aspects that would actually be useful and not time wasting rubbish which is largely what you posted. Sorry to be blunt but quite honestly I have no idea how you think those suggestions would seriously improve the game. Most of them would just make it worse.

Also the improvements to contract negotiations didn't just make them more realistic they made negotiating more convenient, efficient and practical. Its not just realism that adds fun to the game and there are many aspects from real life that are ignored simply because they would make the game less enjoyable. By virtue of being a game SI's priority will always be the enjoyment people get out of the game rather than the realism its just that most of the time those go hand in hand but certainly not in most of your suggestions.

sorry, not a fan of any of the ideas.

well thanks for y'alls input, constructive or not; wasn't trying to offend anyone, just a few suggestions that i thought could improve. At least i have an idea what the community wants/doesn't want. The first post seemed neurotic, but nevertheles suggestions.

Yes the game would be much larger than it is now which is a big shame.

seems like no one really wants additions to the game, i guess the game needs no alterations as is according to the gamers on here.

FM 12 plays like an updated 11; it's changed enough to make it feel brand new, but not enough to revolutionalize the genre and i suppose that's the whole point.

well i said my piece, close the thread if necessary

well thanks for y'alls input, constructive or not; wasn't trying to offend anyone, just a few suggestions that i thought could improve. At least i have an idea what the community wants/doesn't want. The first post seemed neurotic, but nevertheles suggestions.

Yes the game would be much larger than it is now which is a big shame.

seems like no one really wants additions to the game, i guess the game needs no alterations as is according to the gamers on here.

FM 12 plays like an updated 11; it's changed enough to make it feel brand new, but not enough to revolutionalize the genre and i suppose that's the whole point.

well i said my piece, close the thread if necessary

Of course everyone wants improvements. Its about making changes that we think will improve the game though. You look at some of the improvements over recent versions like the 3D ME, the Tactics creator, dynamic league rep and now the ability to add or remove leagues and those are some of the big improvements that people will get a lot out of.

People on here are always discussing ways to improve the game in every area. When it comes to off the pitch matters people want to see things like improved AI and transfer market, more logical player interactions and also one of the recent additions, which is something people have been asking for for a while, is the ability to pick the regens that come into your youth team from a bunch of potential candidates.

While I personally might be able to get on board with some of the suggestions, I agree that most of them won't be (and shouldn't be) implemented. The initial reactions make it clear: it goes a step too far, they're too "niche."

I do understand the key sentiment behind them, though, which I think is this sentence:

But you should feel like you are NOT the only human in the game.

I think that's a statement most people can agree with, and a number of additions over the years indicate that SI is aiming for this, but I don't think we're quite there yet. Of course it's a tricky thing to get right, and something which needs to be achieved with small, subtle things which can be ignored by players who don't care for this aspect.

Clearly the new tone thing, for instance, is a step towards making AI players more "human," but I don't think it's hitting the mark quite yet. Much like players' individual reactions to team talks, the tones and conversation options in private talks with players is a bit of a guessing game for me at the moment. It might all make a lot of sense if you start thoroughly analyzing player personalities and how they react in certain circumstances, but honestly, how many of us do that?

Even if a key player wants a conversation about moving to a bigger club - an important conversation which can directly influence your club in the short term - I don't even bother clicking to his personal page to see if I can determine what kind of personality he has and hence which tone/options would likely have the most effect. And I imagine the majority of FM players tend to be even less patient players than me.

A small improvement on this front would be to let the assistant manager volunteer this information. The assistant informs you that Player X wants to talk to you about moving to a bigger club, and he also reminds you that Player X is a stubborn turd who's unlikely to back down over this. Or has a balanced personality and responds best to calm, mature conversations. Or he seems nervous and might back down if you show him who's the boss. Or whatever, something along those lines.

Little things, like players and other managers putting you on their favored personnel list, this works, even if it isn't all that useful. It's silly, but if a player likes you, you kinda automatically like him back a little bit - probably not enough to extend his contract if he sucks, but still, it creates tiny emotional bonds. Equally silly, if asked in a press conference about my relationship with other managers, I always check to see how he feels about me, and then respond accordingly.

This works even if it is a mostly useless feature. Sure, it says somewhere that being on good terms with other managers can make them more open to transfer offers, but honestly, I don't think I've ever been able to take advantage of that.

I'm a bit conflicted on whether these "personal relationships" should be expanded a bit or not. I can see where the "phone numbers/go to dinner" type suggestions are coming from, but I think that's taking it a step too far.

On the one hand I think it may be best to leave that all to the imagination. You create "emotional bonds" with the players who perform well for you on the pitch anyway, and play for you for many seasons, and in memorable matches - if a player like that has you on his favorite personnel list, that's enough really, you can fill in the rest.

On the other hand, I think there's certainly some room for a few more subtle additions to this feature.

A manager who likes you might inform you that one of his players is being put on the transfer list, or offer one of his youngsters for loan. (as long as this happens rarely, not all the time.) A player who likes you and who was sold to Man City two seasons ago might put in a good word for you when Mancini gets the sack. Or might inform you that his contract at his current club is running out in three months and he'd be interested to sign for your club on a Bosman.

Maybe a monthly meeting with your team captain to discuss the squad/dressing room atmosphere etc. would be a good idea too.

Clearly though, these all have to be small things, and it has to be balanced well. Managing a football club obviously has to remain the core of the game, and your success in the game shouldn't be significantly influenced by how many friends you manage to make along the way.

I wouldn't want to see ANY of the OP's "suggestions" included. And I totally disagree that any would add "realism". Time consuming, maybe. The beauty of the FM series is it leaves a lot of things to the imagination, which is invaluable.

LOL at this thread.

well if your imagination is so good maybe you should pretend you're playing FM instead of actually playing it.

well if your imagination is so good maybe you should pretend you're playing FM instead of actually playing it.

A game where you had to balance going to work, eating, sleeping and talking to other people with playing FM would be about as interesting as the one suggested in the OP.

Have you ever played on FIFA Manager? You can play golf and go sailing. The rest of the game (actually managing a football team) doesn't work at all, but if you want to do stuff outside of football on the game like have a family and choose which car you drive, it might be for you.

Only thing I really like is the testimonials idea.

4) there should always be a "form" that would determine performance. Players' form should be updated by your coaches and they would tell you who is in form and who isn't. Right now we pick players with best attributes to start, but in real life it's seldomly the case. How it should effect the game: actual performance during gameday

I say this is a revolutionary idea. after so many years, SI may though about this feature, where we (as in human manager) cannot really see "fixed" attributes but see through the eye of the scouts and assistants the "dynamic" attributes (that will depend heavily on form). Imagine this, Players playing as Milan manager and player playing as West Brom manager will see different "attributes" of a youngster.

And the testimonial match feature, good idea.

As for the rest, well, sorry pal. forget it.

well if your imagination is so good maybe you should pretend you're playing FM instead of actually playing it.

Haha...maybe I do...

I say this is a revolutionary idea. after so many years, SI may though about this feature, where we (as in human manager) cannot really see "fixed" attributes but see through the eye of the scouts and assistants the "dynamic" attributes (that will depend heavily on form). Imagine this, Players playing as Milan manager and player playing as West Brom manager will see different "attributes" of a youngster.

And the testimonial match feature, good idea.

As for the rest, well, sorry pal. forget it.

This could be a fantastic idea... Each club could have a different level of knowledge of a player... So scouting a player more will refine how accurate you see their attributes, and obviously quality of scouts improves this further. When they join the club, over the coming weeks that knowledge improves until you have complete knowledge of the player and see their full, accurate attributes. This knowledge should improve faster with better scouts / coaches

It means that a scout report card can still give a fairly accurate CA/PA, but you can't just instantly know EXACTLY how good they are.

Add to that the form of a player slightly increasing or reducing their attributes, and you have a tidy little feature on your hands.

Have you ever played on FIFA Manager? You can play golf and go sailing. The rest of the game (actually managing a football team) doesn't work at all, but if you want to do stuff outside of football on the game like have a family and choose which car you drive, it might be for you.

they should borrow ideas from each other FM has to stop being elitist and grow to accommodate new markets too and there are a lot of people looking for this stuff.

so they have the rest of the game sorted but the football side is *****, and FM has the football side of it down but the rest is *****.

they should borrow ideas from each other FM has to stop being elitist and grow to accommodate new markets too and there are a lot of people looking for this stuff.

Watch the language please.

so they have the rest of the game sorted but the football side is *****, and FM has the football side of it down but the rest is *****.

they should borrow ideas from each other FM has to stop being elitist and grow to accommodate new markets too and there are a lot of people looking for this stuff.

do you really think that there are alot of people looking to be able to go fishing, or out to dinner etc with players to team build? I really don't think that there is

I couldn't read it all, because it got progressively terrible, but have you tried The Sims series?

You should be able to Real Time edit your favourite personnel and clubs every 6 months or so, rather then let the computer presume/create this for you during the game. All because I admire someone's talents doesn't mean I like them.

When I say 6 months from each edit, people would take advantage of this and exploit its usage to set club/player as favourite to sign, that's why if every 6 months or longer or whatever, its limits the exploits of this.

Finally someone has suggested what we all have been waiting for in the FM series...... the ability to go fishing with your players

i got so mad at FM that i made 13 things i want to see in the future FM that wont happen, but at least i feel better after i say it. Meanwhile the actual game engine for the match day simulation is saturated, i find there are a lot of room for improvements in the life outside of football. As of now the players, have no distinction or individuality. There's no real atachment to the players even though the makers of FM are trying to give shape to the players, but to me they are all just numbers on a spreadsheet that are dispensible, in real life, a lot more details are entailed to players:

1) space/time. You can't be in 2 places at the same time..... etc.

ugh i do enough of this crap in real life. I don't want it extended to my virtual life as well. NO THANKS.

Finally someone has suggested what we all have been waiting for in the FM series...... the ability to go fishing with your players

Yeh, can't think how the series has survived so long without it tbh:D

Well, Ill be echoing the sentiment of the many, really, but...

I like 11 - Testimonials idea. If the player has made a load of friendships throughout his career, they could all be potentially involved in the match. Would be a nice 'aside' from the usual stuff.

As for the rest... I think you'd lose sight of the fact that this is, indeed, a game....

Fishing with Vieri, brilliant!

I actually like the concept of your first idea, that you can only do so many things per game day, I think the clock should just move along a little bit every time you offer a contract or chat with a player.

But some of the other ideas are just not for me. Arranging appointments to see people? No thanks, I'd like to think my secretary / PA already does this, so I just have to turn up. Having to arrange them would be mind-numbingly dull, especially since I already have to arrange to meet people in my real life job (I don't have a PA).

Whilst some of your ideas may add realism, we still need to have the balance between realism and fun.

It's funny, I did read the entire OP, and by the end of it, I there are actually a couple of half-decent ideas. I think too many people had already dismissed the suggestions as a whole by the time we got to "fishing with Vieri".

1-3. I don't like the time-based ones at all. I get where they're coming from, but I think that's taking micro-management to an extreme. I don't want to spend five real-time minutes setting up a schedule for what I'm going to do today every single day. It may well add realism, but does it add enjoyment of the game?

4. The form report suggestion isn't bad, although I think in part this is already covered by a combination of match ratings and morale. I'd be interested to hear a bit more expansion on how you'd envisage this implemented.

5. The phone numbers triggered in my mind the misleadingly-titled "Premier Manager" series, which is never a bad thing. However, again, I'm not sure how it adds anything- the conversations with players can be done anyway, and it is the coaches dealing with things like lateness for training, reporting back to me. Also, it may just be me, but I get the impression doing a lot of things by email, rather than phone, is probably more realistic these days.

6. To be honest, I think there is a seed of an idea buried in between the extraneous restaurants and hotels, which is that at present there is no way of telling a player WHY they should sign for you. "I want to build a team around you", "I think you'd work well with X", "I believe you would have more first-team opportunities", "You have been recommended to me by X" etc. etc. It takes the player interaction a step further and makes the players more human.

7. I don't like fishing. But seriously, this strikes me as very H-game, very "True Love" (NSFW if you don't know it and are thinking of searching). I could see it working in a less-serious football management sim (say, USM, or LMA), but FM has always been the "serious" management game, the core it's built its reputation on is the phenomenal database. Whilst it needs to keep an eye on attracting new customers, it shouldn't do that at the cost of what built its reputation.

8. Yes- that's a fine idea. Just because I don't want to have a life outside of my job, it doesn't mean the players shouldn't have them. I know who I am, I want to know who they are, and this goes some way to helping that, although they should be positive and negative. At the moment, we're told they're "outspoken", "professional" or whatever, but we don't see a great deal of evidence of it.

9. Too far, I think.

10. Junking the time aspect of it, again, these aren't bad ideas. At the moment, the Fans Spokesperson is pretty anonymous, and there's really not a great consideration about the fans at all- the numbers either go up or down, and that's about it. And, in reality, some clubs do have annual fans conferences, where the manager takes questions. Some of the other bits you mention are probably too far, but there's definitely scope for fans having a bigger impact than they currently do.

In FML, the type of club you were perceived as changed with the type of supporter you attracted. The type of supporter you attracted was affected by the type of football you played and the way in which the club was run. It was a pretty simple system, but it worked well- it gave individuality to teams. Are you a tough tackling, hard-as-nails Millwall or a community-oriented, youth-based Crewe?

11. Yes to testimonials. Some of the other posts have expanded further on this, and I'm particularly taken by involving a player's "favourites".

12. "You should feel like you are NOT the only human in the game." - I couldn't agree with the statement more. I don't agree with the way you're trying to go about doing that, but that is ultimately the key.

13. Does this happen in real life? I can't recall any transfer targets being spotted in the stands of a club they might sign for. Seems it'd be a bit of a scandal.

SI would need to perfect the match engine, tactical depth, training and graphics before I gave a goddamn about any of these suggestions, not that these are all bad (broadly I agree withlawlore's post above, with the addition that greater player personality and team-interaction on your side could make the mid-season slogs a touch more interesting) but they're hardly key features

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2. Update your contact book! Do you want to keep your manager's telephone numbers in alphabetical order by first name or surname? It's your choice!

3. Advise your football manager about timezones! Don't be waking up no football manager in Asia, or else it could cost you the deal!

4. Arrange complimentary tickets for players and manager's wives, girlfriends, mistresses and prostitutes.

5. And finally, introducing for the first time - drugs! Arrange disciplinaries for players who fail drugs tests and - get this - sit in and make notes!

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OP you're a pretty good troll, you had me for a while.

I will say that fifa manager has some features like what your describing so maybe try that? It's nowhere near as good as FM though.

I sorta like the whole "life outside of managing" thing that fifa manager did which was you could set what your family looks like (what your wife is called, do you have a son? ect ect.) and if you had a son you could bring him into your youth squad and then eventually into the first team which i thought was a very nice feature which i would love SI to put in future FM games but with that said it would have to be a very minor thing, Its something that takes about 15 in game seasons to see any result of.

But as for everything else in OP's post...no thanks

1) space/time. You can't be in 2 places at the same time. If you are busy on the pitch or if you are negotiating a contract, you should be occupied, and therefore can't multitask at the same time. There should be a daily planner that helps you organize and tell you how much hrs you have left in a day to execute certain activities. ie negotiation for contract would take 2 hrs, watching the team practice would take up the entire morning & part of the afternoon, etc. And sometimes you would not be able to attend practice because you have an appointment or meeting etc.How it should effect the game: adds realism.

No. I would hate to be limited to doing only certain tasks in one day. That's what makes FM special: the freedom to do whatever you want. This is a

2) all meetings with anyone outside the club needs to be arranged by appointment. There should be no instant access like there is now when you need to talk to a staff that is employed outside the club. There should be an option of them rejecting your offer to talk. Your appointment time must coordinate with the time that is free to you. Your allowed time to have meetings should be determined by the free time in the planner. You have the freedom to prioritize each appointments but the time must be mutually agreed. Unrealistic time meetings should be restricted only to different time zones IE no meetings after 10 pm. How it should effect the game: adds realism.

Another restriction. How does this mold players' personalities? So far I hate two of your ideas.

3) The concept of time should be consistant depending on the timezone: if you want to sign a player in asia and you are in europe, then you would have to set an appointment with them that is convinent with them. You can't be negotiating with them in their supposively sleeping time. Saturdays and sundays should be more quiet, less news, etc. If you were flying to an away game ie CL games that are across europe, your allot time to work is shortened. How it should effect the game: add realism

Your first three complaints are about the same thing, time and scheduling.

4) there should always be a "form" that would determine performance. Players' form should be updated by your coaches and they would tell you who is in form and who isn't. Right now we pick players with best attributes to start, but in real life it's seldomly the case. How it should effect the game: actual performance during gameday

It already does show you. However, I don't want form to determine performance because that is unrealistic and never happens.

5) Players and manager and staff phone numbers (Fake numbers of course), so you can 'talk' to them. Everything in the game is attached to a code so why not make it their fake contact numbers?

IE find them when they are missing in practice. There can be a "not pick up phone" by the player which is an indication of the player disrespecting you. Likewise you should have a personal phone and a business phone. Players can call you when they will be late for practice because they are stuck in traffic, or if they were sick or they have to excuse themselves for other things.

Agents and other managers can be calling you on your business phone, your own players and staff should be calling on your personal phone. How it should effect the game: adds realism

Completely unnecessary. It makes the game even more tedious.

6) We should be more involved with the transfer, like you'd actually have to spend time with the player and his family when you negotiate contracts wtih these ppl. Meet in restaurents, hotels are very common. In addition you should be able to pick 1 staff or even a player that help you convince the player to come. A lot of the desire wanting to come, in addition to money, depends on such 'interviews'. How it should effect the game: take up time per day, increase appeal for players to sign for lesser clubs.

What a terrible idea. That takes things way too far and would make the game so time-consuming.

7) You should have some kind of life outside of football, off the pitch relationships with the players; ie mancini goes fishing with Vieri. many managers have dinner with the players. Things that help the relationship between the player and the manager. How it would help in the game: Improve loyalty

Makes things tedious and it, like your previous complaint, is unnecessary.

8) more off the pitch antics and news for players; ie, they get in trouble with the law, or if they have personal issues that want your advice, and you would have to release a press conference to deny alligations or to help them in your personal time. These are all to build a relationship with your players. How it would help in the game: Improve or lower loyalty depending on the player/situation.

There would be serious legal issues with SI since players would have their names libeled. They would sue SI for defamation.

9) More off the pitch activies: the bad: drug related charges, clubbing, partying, prostitutes, breaking the law, stealing.

the good stuff: to attend charity, attend player award ceremonies, humanitarian work, etc in general things that would take up your time in addition to crunching the database/spreadsheet with no real improvements to the game. You should be able to sent someone to tail a player to see if he was lying about not going to parties. This should apply only to players that are notorious for being unprofessional. And have the ability to call them or speak to them to confront them if they were lying to such incident. How it should effect the game: adds realism and individuality to distinction to players, separating the kakas and the balotellis.

Same thing as your last complaint.

10) Interaction with the fans, open press conference, photo sessions, autograph sessions, online Q & A forums. This should be different sets of questions other than the press conference, just have to have an option. Like all activities this would take up like hrs of the day. The amount of reception (how many fans show up) can be determined by the day of the event and the popularity of the club in that given city; the best times are on the weekends where not much happens, and hours where fans dont have to work. How it should effect the game: improve fans support, increase reputation of the club.

Not bad idea.

11) testimonial games How it should effect the game: adds realism

Not a bad idea, either.

12) you should have some room to make some friends in the game, not real friends of course, just AI. But you should feel like you are NOT the only human in the game. This relates to the phone suggestion. Giving your personal phone number to another manager should be a gesture of goodwill and friendship, esp if it's reciprocated by the other manager. How it should effect the game: improve reputation, rivalry, improve likelihood to accept bid for players playing for friendly managers' teams.

Tedious and unnecessary.

13) You should be able to invite potential signings, who are not convinced to sign for you, to attend a game How it should effect the game: improves likelihood to sign a player who's 50-50 about coming to the team, if the scoreline was favorable.

I do agree that SI should create a feature where you can convince a player to sign for you, but I don't agree with how you plan on doing it.

All of your suggestions make the game tedious and unnecessary, even more time-consuming, or cause legal issues for SI, except for two, but those ideas aren't new.

I'll just go for the usual "it's Football Manager" not "The Sims - Football Life Edition".

The "time must be a factor" is much too complex to introduce and I don't feel it's necessary. At best I can concede it makes little sense for me to "attend" a domestic reserve game at 6pm and then being in France to manage in a CL game at 9pm. But I can just take it as I'm "attending" the reserve game by watching it on TV or something...

Form is already covered by Condition/Fitness, so I'm quite sure Messi at 75% Condition and 80% Fitness wouldn't be as effective as a 100% Messi.

Everything else seems utterly redundant to me. No need to introduce complicated (and much "buggable") features that have no relevance on the football aspect of the game.

My news inbox is already cluttered by unnecessary crap, I don't want a PDA/mobile/tablet...

Ditto about interaction... The current module is frustrating enough, I don't want to miss the chance to sign a Top Player for free just because he didn't like my choice of wine at the preliminary dinner I had (or because I made a pass at his wag)

Real-life incidents and misdemeanours won't EVER be on FM again due to legal issues

I just agree on Testimonial Matches and, partly, fan-related activities.

But seriously: for most of the real-life crap, there's Fifa Manager and The Sims (but without football). FM is in desperate need of improved AI transfer, squad building and talent scouting/development.

When/if those three points will have reached state-of-the-art level, then we can talk about adding more cosmetic guff. Until then, no way.

fishing was an example of the extra football leisure activities the managers and the players engage in, i am not specifically suggesting an implementation of an actual fishing mini game in the FM game.

OP, most of what you're proposing sounds REALLY boring. Maybe you should apply for a RL job as a secretary or something if all that stuff sounds like fun to you. If you can't stand the game because you don't get to have tons of appointment-making, or doing silly things like meeting players in hotels and going fishing (!), then just play another game. There are millions of other games to play.

honestly my frustration was also stemmed from the press conferences, it's just so poorly and has very little bearing on the game. how can SI take them so long to tweek a bunch of routine Q & A's?

The variety of the questions and response are just ridiculously poor, it runs like a repetitive survey that no one takes seriously, more so than an 'interaction'.

The press conference is tedious and repetitive, i think they are trying pretty hard to make it a little more interesting, but does it take an entire year to tweek the conference dialog? I understand you dont want to make all changes in one year but its' been 2-3 years and there's really no major improvements.

The press conference is tedious and repetitive.

Now THAT I agree with.

honestly my frustration was also stemmed from the press conferences, it's just so poorly and has very little bearing on the game. how can SI take them so long to tweek a bunch of routine Q & A's?

Because it's not just a bunch of 'routine Q&As'? You've got to consider the context of the question and make sure you're getting the right question at the right time (so you don't get asked about whether you'll win the league or not when you've already won it, for example). You've got to consider the consequences of each answer on the player/staff member involved, the rest of the squad and the rest of the footballing world. Players need to get happy or unhappy at your responses, they remember your answers/promises and come back at you later if you don't keep them. Other managers get offended when you write off their title chances, and may be less favourable to dealing with you in the future. Players at your own club react to potential signings affecting their first team placeand so on. Then you've got issues with translating the text (each new question could easily add 30 or 40 lines of text to the translation 'bill' when you consider all possible responses and outcomes). It's not just a case of sitting down and jotting a few questions on a bit of paper and then it's done.