interviews

As people keep going on about realism in the game and how things could be changed I think it is time there was a change in the way job applications and approaches happen. I think it would be good if once you have applied for a job you are informed whether you have been shortlisted etc and then have an interaction with the owner/board. In this you could be asked question on transfer policy, views on the club, how you would take it forward etc. You could also discuss transfer budgets, backroom staff etc. This should be fairly easy to be put into the game given the ability to interact with board, players, potential transfer is already present. This could also brin about a much needed re-vamp in player interaction whereby you can develop more of a rapport with potential transfers by letting them know where they fit into your plans, your plans for the club etc. to try and entice higher rep players to the club, e.g, Mark Hughes is probably going to have more luck bringing in bigger names than Warnock was due to his links with the bigger clubs. What do people think? Is there a way of putting ideas to the people at SI if they get a good uptake in these forums?

In principle, I think a robust job application interview is a great idea. But, in practice, I think...no, no, NO. The problem is that a proper construction of this feature would require too many conversational paths and options. We've seen from the FM player interactions to date that they are far too abbreviated and repetitive and result in some rather unrealistic outcomes, at least in terms of what appears to the human player. In my view, building a robust interview that covered enough different subjects and enough different responses to make the exchange entertaining and useful as opposed to boring and even annoying would require a massive development effort by SI. This is the heart of the problem with almost every conversational interaction in every computer game today. The interaction tree required for a deep and detailed conversation branches out exponentially (2,4,8,16...) and this is far too fast to allow any reasonable simulation of an in-depth interview. Anything less would equate to the current player interaction (or the dreaded press conference) and must be heartily opposed. I believe the way forward for added immersion is to build a large set of community-generated random events. As I've proposed elsewhere, this would require a much smaller effort from SI as the development would be broad, not deep. Not to mention that some of your ideas could be included as independent events.

As already said a very good idea IN PRINCIPLE but in actual implementation would be very difficult and repetitive. Imagine applying for say 5 jobs and getting shortlisted for every job, going off the current interaction layout from all five interviews you would get the same meanigless repetitive responses that have no context to the situation. I think with the current interactions SI have done a pretty good job, to make it any more exciting would take a massive massive development effort.

Although I do like the idea of a community generated random events, that'd be good.

If Mark Hughes was interviewing with 5 clubs at the same time (which is doutbful) then I have no doubt that the majority of the interviews will all be the same content. i.e. how much can i spend on what and what league position / cup win would you want etc.

Maybe so yeah, but getting the exact same reply in ever conference would not happen, which is where the difficulty would be

I love the idea but I doubt it will happen in at least the next few years because it would only be very basic and repetitive if it was brought in. I personally don't want SI to bring out any more interaction features yet because most of the current one's are only half baked and need more work to make them better.

I'm not sure an interview like that really happens... The board is more likely to outline that vision. The board is more likely to put forward what they want from you. An interview determining what you can bring to the club seems fairly tedious to me.

From the board's vision, we should have a feature where the board plans based on circumstance.

For example, if the club is in relegation trouble when it shouldn't be, they may fire a manager and only offer you a deal until the end of the season, with the single aim that you keep the club up. If you fail, but show promise; or if you succeed, the board may state that they are willing to consider a new longer-term deal. This could be any relegation-threatened club - like Neil Warnock a few days ago.

Another example: If the club is in financial trouble, the board may hire you but state fairly bluntly that you should expect no transfer money, that players will be sold beneath your feet, and the club is likely to get relegated no matter what - therefore your short-term aims are to help stabilise the club and try to preserve the club's "honour" by not losing 10-0 every match; your medium-term aims are to blood the club's youngsters and identify short-term signings to ensure that the club doesn't get relegated the very next season; and your long-term aims are to ensure that the club does not need to spend much on transfers in the long run, slowly recovering through the development of young talent and gentle easing of the wage bill. The board may state that job security is clearly going to be low but given they are in enough trouble already, a few bumps are to be expected, but financial survival and recovery are your ultimate aims - so if you go into next season signing a bunch of free mercenaries, you will not please the board, as this is not sustainable. This could be any of Portsmouth's managers from Grant onwards.

Another example: The club is in mid-table mediocrity and has been gently falling for several years. The current manager was fired due to a bad run of results and the general consensus in the club is that things are a little "stale". They want to sign you with the short-term aim of not getting relegated and turning the club's results around, but are happy to give you lots of money in the long run to shape and mould the club in your vision. They are willing to stick with you through thick and thin as the upheaval of change occurs (although, of course, that is not unconditional loyalty), but as long as you can show that the club is always going in the right direction, then all is good. This could be Roberto Martínez at Wigan, where his nice style of football at Swansea and low-budget style of management could be attractive to a club like Wigan.

Another example: You are Sir Alex Ferguson's successor. Your job is simple: Be as good as Sir Alex Ferguson. This is one of those appointments where "don't change anything" is your only real aim. Appointments in this manner are unlikely to be young managers with potential, or managers who have a radical methodology - it is more likely to be an internal appointment or someone with proven success at or above the club's current level.

So, rather than an interview, I think the board needs to be able to strategise, leading to more sensible managerial appointments. So you might seem to be slightly overqualified for a certain job, but the board may still politely turn you down over another candidate because they see you as more of a long-term appointment while they need someone right now to save them from relegation. They might appoint you anyway if you are really that good, of course.

Sounds good x42bn6, by setting their aims out that sort of reverses the process that I intimated at but ultimately lets you know where they stand. This could also include the chairman/board saying things like 'we will stick by you through thick or thin' if you are in the job to help ease financial strain and keep the club afloat whereas if you were taking on the Chelsea job with Abramovich he would be telling you win the CL or you're out!!

What are these community generated random events??

have to agree @x42bn6 some brilliant ideas in there which would be much easier to implement. For say Leciester who should be getting promotion to get an interview and for them to say you have to get promoted we will back you with money. May get trick say 20-25 seasons in when owners etc have changed. The chairmen/owners would have to be pretty dynamic and be able to realise a plausible expectation.

What are these community generated random events??

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/219736-A-Cheeky-Disquisition-on-Random-Events

I've been hawking this idea for a couple of years but it seems destined to languish in the Cosmic Void.