SI - Why have you made the advertising hoardings clickable?

So many times on FM09 so far, I've been trying to look at a players name by clicking on them, been moving widgets, etc, or just randomly clicked in the FM09 window to bring it back to the front, and I've accidentally pressed within the vicinity of one of the advertising hoardings, which brings up the FM website in firefox. It gets VERY annoying once it's happened 5 or 6 times during a gaming session -is there any way to turn this off?!!

So many times on FM09 so far, I've been trying to look at a players name by clicking on them, been moving widgets, etc, or just randomly clicked in the FM09 window to bring it back to the front, and I've accidentally pressed within the vicinity of one of the advertising hoardings, which brings up the FM website in firefox. It gets VERY annoying once it's happened 5 or 6 times during a gaming session -is there any way to turn this off?!!

Honstly i have never had this problem!

have a look in preferences. im sure theres a button thats says enable hyperlinks, just make sure its unticked. it applies to the hyperlinks in the text so i assume it will work for all hyperlinks

It makes no difference, it still happens if I untick that box.

It happens to me a few times but all it does is annoy the hell out of me as to why it comes up until I realise

I'd like to play you on Counterstrike, your aim must be terrible

haha so would i lol some good pawning could be done

it winds me up because i like to click away on the pitch, urging passes and soforth

LOL Yeah it has happened to me a couple of times to when moving a widget.

LoL i thought this was obvious, so in future versions (or even this version) SI can sell advertising space in the game, the prospect of being able to link your product or/and service to your website with instant access is a whole lot more appealling.

4Site thats all well and good for the future, but for now it's just a pain. Also if you click on say, the warchild hoarding, it doesn't take you to a warchild website, but the FM one still!

So they can lower the purchase price of the game, because they're getting additional advertising revenue. Right?

Popping up a browser window without permission is illegal where I live.

I'm guessing you give the permission in the terms and conditions when you install either the demo or the game. It's just nobody ever reads them.

It's annoying by virtue of the fact that the only time you can click on them is in a match - and when in a match, the only thing you want to be doing is focussing on the match. Not suddenly have the PC come to a halt while the browser starts and have FM disappear while you wonder what on earth is going on.

Popping up a browser window without permission is illegal where I live.

I suppose it doesn't really count as a "pop up" because it's an actual link we click on (albeit by accident in the OP's case) that is expected to open up a window.

Popping up a browser window without permission is illegal where I live.

Good job they aren't doing that then, isn't it?

Popping up a browser window without permission is illegal where I live.

Which place is this :confused:

They get money for every person who visits the site.

Just a money scheme.

I understand that William Hills are going to advertise on the game, and the hoardings will say "Bet in Play: Rooney to score next goal" and you'll be able to bet real money on the FM game.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

All this is a lie.

In answer to the question "SI - Why have you made the advertising hoardings clickable?" the answer is to make money from real advertisers, presumably soon. I think this is a good idea, as I've argued on many occasions - and I think more games will go the way of ingame advertising. As long as it's not intrusive in the game (which it isn't, unless you have really, really poor aim - and yeah, I'd like to play you on Counterstrike too!! ) I don't see a problem with it.

And, it's a good way to ensure the developers get the money they are missing through piracy. Therefore, it means that developers and publishers continue to invest in the PC Games market by making games. Hoorah! \o/

I didn't know what was happening at first when I was clicking on the screen, I hadn't realized I was clicking the ad boards.

it winds me up because i like to click away on the pitch, urging passes and soforth

you might be on to something here mate!

what if clicking on a player to pass to is the same as shouting instructions from the touchline. You may be able to influence if the player hears you.

Perhaps if there are a few options for a player, you could try and get him to pass where you think he should. Or something like that.

Is this something that would make sense or be worth doing?

you might be on to something here mate!

what if clicking on a player to pass to is the same as shouting instructions from the touchline. You may be able to influence if the player hears you.

Perhaps if there are a few options for a player, you could try and get him to pass where you think he should. Or something like that.

Is this something that would make sense or be worth doing?

Sounds a bit like that terrible Pro Evo/FIFA game on the Wii to me, /o\

i'm only suggesting influencing the decision made by the player, not actually taking control

i'm only suggesting influencing the decision made by the player, not actually taking control

In all seriousness, I don't think it's a bad idea. It's just that it reminded me of that terrible game on the Wii, the one with Michael Owen and Ian Wright in the ads. Played it, hated it. Anyway, in terms of your idea, I actually quite like it.

I understand that William Hills are going to advertise on the game, and the hoardings will say "Bet in Play: Rooney to score next goal" and you'll be able to bet real money on the FM game.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

All this is a lie.

Is a brilliant idea though

In all seriousness, I don't think it's a bad idea. It's just that it reminded me of that terrible game on the Wii, the one with Michael Owen and Ian Wright in the ads. Played it, hated it. Anyway, in terms of your idea, I actually quite like it.

I think its only fair AndyPrime get the credit

Shouldn't the game be even cheaper if the ads are clickable etc? I reckon this could be the future of gaming to be honest, make more money from advertising so the price will drop, more people can pay for it. But if they get advertising, and not lowering the price then that does nothing for the consumer. That said, all the links lead to www.footballmanager.net don't they?

Popping up a browser window without permission is illegal where I live.

According to someone else on these forums, the EULA for the game contains the following:

This technology will automatically deliver location-based advertising and log and transmit certain information about your interaction with the advertising. If you do not wish to receive contextual advertising messages, do not play this game while connected to the Internet.

So, when you agreed to the EULA you sort of allowed most of the behavior regarding the advertisements. I'm far from saying that I like the advertisements, since I'm generally against installing "adware" on my computer, but since you agree to it if you install the game, then SI isn't doing anything illegal.

According to someone else on these forums, the EULA for the game contains the following:

So, when you agreed to the EULA you sort of allowed most of the behavior regarding the advertisements. I'm far from saying that I like the advertisements, since I'm generally against installing "adware" on my computer, but since you agree to it if you install the game, then SI isn't doing anything illegal.

As far as the USA goes you are flat out wrong. Different states have different rules regarding how binding EULAs are. In some states agreeing to a EULA means nothing.

Shouldn't the game be even cheaper if the ads are clickable etc? I reckon this could be the future of gaming to be honest, make more money from advertising so the price will drop, more people can pay for it. But if they get advertising, and not lowering the price then that does nothing for the consumer. That said, all the links lead to www.footballmanager.net don't they?

No, the price of the game won't drop - the revenue stream from advertising will make up for what is lost by people pirating the game. I think PC game prices are reasonable tbh, and I wouldn't expect them to be any cheaper.

According to someone else on these forums, the EULA for the game contains the following:

"This technology will automatically deliver location-based advertising and log and transmit certain information about your interaction with the advertising. If you do not wish to receive contextual advertising messages, do not play this game while connected to the Internet."

So, when you agreed to the EULA you sort of allowed most of the behavior regarding the advertisements. I'm far from saying that I like the advertisements, since I'm generally against installing "adware" on my computer, but since you agree to it if you install the game, then SI isn't doing anything illegal.

I find that incredibly disappointing. I am very much against adware or spyware of any form. At the very least, there should be an option to opt out of this. Simply saying "do not play this game while connected to the internet" is just not good enough I'm afraid. I thought the DRM authentication was potentially a bad enough invasion of privacy, but with this on top as well, it has left a very sour taste in my mouth I'm sad to say.

I find that incredibly disappointing. I am very much against adware or spyware of any form. At the very least, there should be an option to opt out of this. Simply saying "do not play this game while connected to the internet" is just not good enough I'm afraid. I thought the DRM authentication was potentially a bad enough invasion of privacy, but with this on top as well, it has left a very sour taste in my mouth I'm sad to say.

To be fair, you see them all the time on the internet and if SI are making a bit of money out of it then I'm all for it, just don't click on them!

I find that incredibly disappointing. I am very much against adware or spyware of any form. At the very least, there should be an option to opt out of this. Simply saying "do not play this game while connected to the internet" is just not good enough I'm afraid. I thought the DRM authentication was potentially a bad enough invasion of privacy, but with this on top as well, it has left a very sour taste in my mouth I'm sad to say.

I'm very much against the direction that SI seems to be heading in as well, and as things are looking at the moment I won't be buying the game this year. SI won't care whether or not I buy the game, but the only option I have as a consumer to show that I'm far from happy is to not spend my money on their product - So that's what I plan on doing.

Already when the DRM was announced I, like many others, decided to not buy the game. Miles mentioned though that he was sure that when people learned what DRM system they had decided to use many would reconsider. Unfortunately reading about their DRM of choice has not convinced me yet, and with this "adware" it's looking even less likely that I will reconsider.

As far as the USA goes you are flat out wrong. Different states have different rules regarding how binding EULAs are. In some states agreeing to a EULA means nothing.

Okay, well that's good news then. If people start to make a lot of fuss about things like this and if, at least in some parts of the world, it's even illegal then maybe FM will someday again be a product that I'll happily buy.

I'd like to play you on Counterstrike, your aim must be terrible

This is an issue that's really random - you can click a player, or somewhere on the pitch, and you'd be taken out of the game. Not so sure, but it's not affecting me when I'm playing in windowed mode. It's when I'm playing in 1024x768 resolution, full-screen, that everything appears quite random indeed.

Poor decision to implement this in the live match view anyway - whether it's supposed to be just the hoardings acting as hyperlinks or not.

As far as the USA goes you are flat out wrong. Different states have different rules regarding how binding EULAs are. In some states agreeing to a EULA means nothing.

That's also the case in some other countries like Finland. Any point in an EULA that is against Finnish legislation is not binding in Finland.

This was the final straw in my hat. I won't be buying FM09. Adware, DRM, an armada of bugs, some of the the same db errors still present from previous games, disappointing previous version...no thank you, SI!

Anyone wanting to disable the ads from opening your browser should simply use a firewall software to prevent FM from accessing the Internet. That's probably the easiest method to do it unless you physically unplug the Ethernet cable (or what ever connection solution you are using).

people are getting ridiculously over-wound up about this.

It's annoying by virtue of the fact that the only time you can click on them is in a match - and when in a match, the only thing you want to be doing is focussing on the match. Not suddenly have the PC come to a halt while the browser starts and have FM disappear while you wonder what on earth is going on.

Just make sure the browser is open at the same time as FM - it's not as annoying and doesn't take as long to switch back to the game.

As I mentioned in the DRM thread, disabling FM in the firewall will have the undesired effect of stopping network games from working also. As my partner and I were planning on playing network games, this is not an option for me.

Unfortunately, this will be the first version of the game I will not be buying due in part to the advertising software and also the DRM.

If I am buying any software, I do not want any other software installed alongside it.

Somebody said in another thread that deleting the file ads.fmf will remove the ads from the game. I don't know if it will also remove the links from the boards, or maybe it removes the boards altogether. I haven't tried it myself, as the demo is awful.

I believe that the ads.fmf file is a container for game resources and not code.

Deleting this may remove the boards from your game but the ad software will still be there. Not sure if this will remove the inadvertent click either as it depends how that part is programmed.

Somebody said in another thread that deleting the file ads.fmf will remove the ads from the game. I don't know if it will also remove the links from the boards, or maybe it removes the boards altogether. I haven't tried it myself, as the demo is awful.

He is guessing tbh, and its not the issue to me, removing the gfx for the hoardings doesnt remove the 3rd party software SI are using to run the ingame ads, the 3rd party software that is in no uncertain terms, spyware.

So, when you agreed to the EULA you sort of allowed most of the behavior regarding the advertisements. I'm far from saying that I like the advertisements, since I'm generally against installing "adware" on my computer, but since you agree to it if you install the game, then SI isn't doing anything illegal.

Yes you have 2 options

1. I agree

2. I do not agree,

see what happens if you click option 2,

As the post above says, Spyware, an option would be to configure your firewall '' do not let FM2009 have access to internet''

I've read that game companies began to add advertising on their games because it is more profitable than making money by selling it.

Yes you have 2 options

1. I agree

2. I do not agree,

see what happens if you click option 2,

Your stuck with a game you cant return ( not many game retailers in the UK take PC games back due to the obvious problems with the ease of copying or stealing cd keys)

Which is why most people see a EULA as not worth the paper they are not written on, because they simply wouldn't stand up in court if a publisher/dev ever tried to use one in a case vs a customer.

Configuring my firewall to block fm09.exe or whatever the 3rd party app process is restricts my use of the game by not allowing me to play networked games.

This pretty much needs to be on the box, not hidden away in the EULA

Yeah, where's the option to choose not to agree to the EULA and then be entitled for a full refund when returning the game? I know for one that I never agree with them 100%, but since the only option is to agree in order to play, you have to click on accept.

edit: Of course, I don't care about the EULA's (never even read them) at all, since I know they are moot anyway in my country. If a legal dispute would arise, the local legislation would override it anyway.

My FPS skills are perfectly adequate to all those who have invited me to a game of CS Within the matchscreen I normally have the slider quite high and occassionally want to check which player is where - the easiest way to do so is to click on the player so you can see their name. If the player's near the side of the pitch and moves slightly then you'll likely end up looking at a webpage instead.

I can see why SI may introduce such a system with regards to ad revenue etc (and no doubt this is an follow on from allowing real life papers etc being mentioned within the game). After all, the first time I noticed what happened I immediately tested a few hoardings out to see if it woud take me to a relevant website. However, it doesn't. As it only ever directs to the FM website, what was the point of putting it into this release? If it's something to go into this version later, then why not just release it as part of an update rather than hard code it in from the start? And why the hell can't you turn it off? I'd imagine that it was probably quite easy to code an option to disable, but SI have chosen to focus more on advertising revenue than user experience it seems.

Also, if you tell your firewall to block access, you're still going to get FM open a browser window and TRY to connect to a website, and it will be just as annoying whether its able to load a website or not.

God you lot are in for some interesting times when you find out the plans Sky has for the Sky Plus Box regarding not being able to fast forward through ad breaks anymore (shhhhhh).