Very Superstitious...

Good afternoon everyone,

I'm the new 'Community Officer' at FM. Inbetween playing FM09 (it's a hard life!) im also starting to knock up some articles for the FM website.

I got to thinking about all my superstitions I have while playing - my lucky slippers are looking a tad on the thin side these days - and wanted to throw it out to everyone else.

What superstitions do you have when playing FM? No need to be embarrassed at all, im sure most have us have some daft ones!

If I get excited (e.g beating a big team) my hands goes up to my eyes in a bincular shape.

The worst superstition of all time has to go to me, when I was 14 and playing CM97 I was playing one of my major title rivals (who I had never beaten) and it was 0-0 at half time, when my gran came round to see us. Obviously I had to go downstairs in the hope of money so I clicked play for the second half and switched the screen off, I returned about 2 hours later and switched the screen on to find I had won the match. For about 6 months of real life gaming time I always switched the screen off in the second half of a big match and sat there for about 10 minutes before switching it back on. I can't say for sure if it had a positive impact, but at the time I thought it did .

This sort of thread has popped up a few times recently;

http://www.community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=33670&highlight=superstitions

http://www.community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=42715&highlight=superstitions

http://www.community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=49535&highlight=superstitions

I tend to be inconsistent in my superstitions so they come and go, mostly because since they are superstitions there come times when they fail totally and then get abandoned in favour of a different one.

One I have tended to come back to on numerous occasions though is that of leaving the room immediately after kicking off a match. On a few occasions (the ones I tend to remember most, I forget all those when it doesn't work) I find that I come back after making a drink to find myself 0-3 up away from home at half time in a match I expected to get beaten in. So then whenever I have a tough away game I find myself clicking Play and then rushing out of the room before the opposition score and "break the spell", hoping that when I return we will have managed to score loads of goals in my absence and conceded none

And by the way, welcome to the FM addicts community! Just kidding

And by the way, welcome to the FM addicts community! Just kidding

I don't get it

Not really a superstition as such but whenever i'm watching a game and I think anything along the lines of "I'm all over them" "Its a masterclass" "they cant live with my pace and movement" basically, anything overconfident and cocky, then i ALWAYS lose without fail. Even if i'm 3-0 up when I think it, I swear the AI knows and cuts me back down to size for it!

I must have my A4 refill pad opened and set in front of the laptop with my blue, black & red pens set in line to the side. Pens for writing down names of players to watch, find or buy at a later date or throughout the game. Also keep a list of any featured player names or rising stars that appear in articles on websites like Skysports & BBC & in magazines like World Soccer.

I'm also a fan of the lucky toilet break btw!!

At one point I went through a period of staring at my teams name and trying my best to completely ignore commentary or highlights, so i'd be staring intently at the name and every so often noticing that the commentary was flashing, so someone had scored, but if I looked to see who invariably it would be the opposition

My all time best superstition (they come and go) started when i was playing at old trafford and getting beat 2-0 at half time on fm06 , when my dog decided to go into the kitchen, i then went on to win 3-2. So for about 6 months after when i was playing a big team away i would kick the dog into the living room before the match and then kick him into the kitchen at half time.

1.) I always minimize the [+]'s on the game screen.

2.) Always have my notebook open.

3.) Never have all my coaching/scouting staff from the same nationality.

4.) Always have one American player somewhere in the organization (my nationality).

5.) Like Nomis07 and glamdring, I find I have better luck when I walk out of the room while the first and second halves are being played.

What in the world is with people not watching the match...don't you guys sit there and click back n forth between a 4-4-2 and a 4-2-4 formation every 10 seconds like your supposed to?!

Obviously I had to go downstairs in the hope of money so I clicked play for the second half and switched the screen off, I returned about 2 hours later and switched the screen on to find I had won the match.

How gutted would you be if one of your players got an injuries after 3 minutes of the second half?

What in the world is with people not watching the match...don't you guys sit there and click back n forth between a 4-4-2 and a 4-2-4 formation every 10 seconds like your supposed to?!

Na I never alter tactics before, during or after a match, I just sit there watching the first half, make my subs at half time and sit back and watch the second half.

never ever watch a penalty shootout, always leave the room instead

I always have the mouse cursor over my team's tactics button. On one of the older games, my mate used to continuosly tap the space bar throughout the game.

What in the world is with people not watching the match...don't you guys sit there and click back n forth between a 4-4-2 and a 4-2-4 formation every 10 seconds like your supposed to?!

I only rarely give in to that particular superstition and mostly it only comes to mind when I am already planning to go and get a coffee or something so I just time it to coincide with the first half. In general though I am a rational and intelligent human being

I also only generally do that for the first half of a match so that I at least have some chance of reversing the mess if we actually go in 3-0 down at half time instead of 3-0 up!

At one point I went through a period of staring at my teams name and trying my best to completely ignore commentary or highlights, so i'd be staring intently at the name and every so often noticing that the commentary was flashing, so someone had scored, but if I looked to see who invariably it would be the opposition

I used to do exactly the same thing! Dont move your eyes at all from your team name, so you cant whats happening (so nothing is happening!)

never ever watch a penalty shootout, always leave the room instead

I still do this. I cant watch them at all. If I dont minimise the game and do something else, then I always put it on commentry only.

If I'm facing a big team or an important match I leave the room and make a cuppa tea or a drink...Don't like watching those games

I MUST listen to music while I'm playing.

It calms me down. It is mostly due to the fact that I mostly play a lower league clubs so I get nervous alot...

I just can't imagine playing FM without music in background...

And it is usualy some bands like Portishead or Massive Attack or something...some kind of trip-hop and stuff

Everytime my girlfriend give me a call i either lost or draw my match.

I told her about this and she find this very funny. Well.......

Have to keep player rating screen open always when I am playing match, unless there is any pitch action my screen will be player rating. And if I want to check any other screen I will pause and check them before getting back to player rating screen and then start the match.

If i find a player whose name i don't like, no matter how good he is, i will never buy him. Also if i start a game and i don't like a name of someone already in my squad i will do my best to sell them

I do that too, although not through superstition, I just get irritated by names I don't like

Some good responses there as I expected!

My old housemate used to insist on wearing his suit for cup finals, big games etc and would often celebrate a big win by getting in a crate of beers. How i miss living with him!

I do that too, although not through superstition, I just get irritated by names I don't like

Names such as??

Not too long ago, If I managed to get a one goal lead, I would not move.

Eg/ I would finally grab a goal, and in fear of losing the lead, I would still perfectly still, and not change the tactics etc.

I used to think that if I clicked the Tactics option to make a sub, or apply time-wasting, then I would conceede, even before I applied it.

Therefore, I didn't change anything. I just sat still.

Names such as??

I can't think off-hand. Some names I just find boring (including my own if it were a footballer, and in fact there is a footballer who shares my name and he was briefly sent to my Scunthorpe team in loan!). Most obviously I can't be doing with having a player in my team whose name I can't pronounce.

...and in fact there is a footballer who shares my name...

I purchase all players with my unique last name. There are usually only 2 or 3, but in one save there were over 10! Didn't think about that until you mentioned it, Glamdring.

There are quite a few who share my last name, only one I'm aware of, an ex-Manchester United reject, who shares my full name though!

Some good responses there as I expected!

My old housemate used to insist on wearing his suit for cup finals, big games etc and would often celebrate a big win by getting in a crate of beers. How i miss living with him!

LOL - quality!!

I refuse to look at/acknowledge who the key player is in the forthcoming match, he always seems to score against me if I do.

Off topic, but isn't it funny how people react to duplicate threads re the demo, yet no-one has said anything to a guy from Sega starting a duplicate thread Anyways, i'm enjoying this thread some of us are quite clearly insane!

I point the mouse at which corner I want my keeper to dive or striker to shoot on a penalty, some of these make mine look like a normal thing!

I'm verging on serious OCD I reckon.

I like to have the mouse cursor in a certain direction when playing a game.

If I am at home, I place the mouse cursor on the right-hand side by the corner of the penalty box. When away from home, I place it on the left side in the opposite position. I always then put the mouse cursor down as far as it will go so I can't see it on the screen. I firmly believe that if I do not do this, I will definitely lose!

If playing a big game then I'm even worse about this mouse cursor thing. Sometimes I feel that I have to put it into my preferred position without touching any of the lines on the pitch apart from the touchline. So, for instance, if I touch the halfway line or something like that, I have to put the mouse cursor down, then bring it back up to start again and place it down again so that it hasn't touched any lines on the pitch.

I know, I know, I'm a weirdo.

Also, when watching a match, I fiddle endlessly and I have to put certain objects at certain angles and in certain positions. Like any books on my desk, for instance, must sit straight forward but slightly to one side so that the right side of the book is higher at the top than the left side. I'm probably mental or something. I couldn't play a game with a book in the wrong position. I think I'd explode!

I'm just as bad when I go to an actual football match. For instance, I have to go through the turnstile furthest to the right when I get to any ground. To be fair to me though, whenever I have had to go through one of the left sided turnstiles, my team haved ended up losing or playing poorly, so I feel that there is evidence for that little quirk of mine!

None of you lot sound quite as crazy as me!

C.

probably a minor one but i feel i win more matches when i dont watch the pitch and just have text only. surely there must be more of my sort out there!

I'm the opposite Ollie Hunter. I feel that I win more matches when I watch the pitch and have the highlights set to full match!

in the old days of CM i used to hold the mouse cursor over the score of my team and if i was winning i would hold it over my team name, dont know why or how it started just used to do it. then all of a sudden i stopped doing it, hehe, might start again!

If I'm winning at half time, I always make a minor change to my tactics, sometimes as little as telling one of my forwards to run with the ball more often. I tell myself it's good tactical sense, but I can't say for sure. I'm just paranoid the AI has cracked my tactic first half. I win more than I lose so maybe there's something to it.

are youreally from sega?? you dont have the sega logo next to your name

are youreally from sega?? you dont have the sega logo next to your name

Yes, it says so right underneath his username. Normal users can't put anything directly under there username!

This sort of thread has popped up a few times recently;

http://www.community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=33670&highlight=superstitions

http://www.community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=42715&highlight=superstitions

http://www.community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=49535&highlight=superstitions

Be fair, the poor guy did get to post #3 before asking something he could have searched for! ;-)

But seriously, to contribute, back in the old FM games when you positioned the cursor under the loading bars, the "bar" on top would disappear. You could time this to make the bar load quite jumpily, especially once you knew how it progressed. I never could stop doing that... I also used to hover the cursor in the other team's goal or on top of the number in my score.

Now days? My only real noticeable one is that I always add a buy back and sell on clause to ANY young player i sell. The first I forget WILL turn into the next Pele, only better. He will then move from the team I sell him to to one of my rivals, after my bid is rejected, for 500million.

I cant have my mouse on the pitch

I cant have my mouse on the pitch

oh me neither that is awful.

i moved the position that the mouse has to be a while back, but that place (there is a wee line) isnt there on 08 (i still play 07) so i am worried i will have to find a new place for 09

Well I've got one. When defending the lead late in the game, I usually start to play defensively and substitute a player or two in order to run down the clock. Surpisingly it works!

I always fidget with something on my desk during a game, such as a Keyring, Keys, Headphones etc.

...writing's on the wall.

Don't watch first half and if I'm up with 10 minutes to go, I put on my defend tactic and don't watch.

prior to playing a major game (cup final/main rival) i always save the game a go to the toilet, where i tend to hold an imaginary press conference to get all my nerves out and describe what we are going to do to Chelski or Man Yoo or whomever it is. tends to get me focused.

also, i often watch the scouted match to work out who to try to lock down

if i was winning by a tight margine i used to hold my breath so they wouldnt score lol