My two penneth.... What if the guys at SI said **** it and took their ball??

Like lots of others on here, I have played these games for quite a few years. With this release, SI seem to have been quite ambitious on many fronts. Living in South Korea as I do, I am expecting a copy to land sometime this weekend. UPS has added about a tenner to the game but hey. I could have bought a Jap copy but my Kanji isn't what it was. I use a mac so understand the frustration of those waiting for the patch.

My point is this though. There will be a patch and It will be soon. There will be problems with it as well. People will also moan about taking their copies back to the store. They will also put messages on here about how the company no longer cares. I don't go with this.

If they didn't care, they wouldn't try so many new features. So the thing could have been tested more. Listen, in my work I send articles to print on a daily basis. I check them, my colleagues check them, hell everyone checks them. It is amazing how mistakes that should be obvious evade this quality control.

I firmly believe that everything they have done this year, from STEAM to the 3d have been done to enhance our interaction with the game. So some things have not gone to plan with some people. What I am urging here is patience. The majority of us are not merely customers. This is like religion to us. It did not take a genius to workout that their would be problems. We buy the thing anyway. We will do next year. We are on this journey with SI and for their part they have delivered a pretty realistic product. Once it is properly patched up (which I imagine will be soon) there will be no beating it.

What I don't want to see is all the personal crap written about the company. Let's keep it constructive and get behind them. As I have said, I know that things could have been better with this release. But realise this, SI and the football manager brand are the ONLY show in town and if they decided to 'hang up their boots' (pardon the pun) we would all be screwed. Everyone has breaking points guys. Let's not push them to theirs.

There. Off my chest.

I agree.

Though they could have avoided a lot of problems if people would have been given at least 10 days to activate the game, rather than have to activate it upon installation. God knows how much it cost me to ring an 0808 number only to have the activation code she read out to me not work so the whole call be completely pointless.

Still, I won't be jumping on their backs. Nothing is perfect and they always work hard to get patches out to sort any problems.

I'm not too worried. SI love making the games and, let's face it, if they quit, they'd have to find a much less exciting way of making money.

0808 is a freephone number from UK landlines.

Sadly I'd only just moved into my new house and the landline hadn't been connected. So I rang it from my mobile... Nightmare ha!

Like lots of others on here, I have played these games for quite a few years. With this release, SI seem to have been quite ambitious on many fronts. Living in South Korea as I do, I am expecting a copy to land sometime this weekend. UPS has added about a tenner to the game but hey. I could have bought a Jap copy but my Kanji isn't what it was. I use a mac so understand the frustration of those waiting for the patch.

My point is this though. There will be a patch and It will be soon. There will be problems with it as well. People will also moan about taking their copies back to the store. They will also put messages on here about how the company no longer cares. I don't go with this.

If they didn't care, they wouldn't try so many new features. So the thing could have been tested more. Listen, in my work I send articles to print on a daily basis. I check them, my colleagues check them, hell everyone checks them. It is amazing how mistakes that should be obvious evade this quality control.

I firmly believe that everything they have done this year, from STEAM to the 3d have been done to enhance our interaction with the game. So some things have not gone to plan with some people. What I am urging here is patience. The majority of us are not merely customers. This is like religion to us. It did not take a genius to workout that their would be problems. We buy the thing anyway. We will do next year. We are on this journey with SI and for their part they have delivered a pretty realistic product. Once it is properly patched up (which I imagine will be soon) there will be no beating it.

What I don't want to see is all the personal crap written about the company. Let's keep it constructive and get behind them. As I have said, I know that things could have been better with this release. But realise this, SI and the football manager brand are the ONLY show in town and if they decided to 'hang up their boots' (pardon the pun) we would all be screwed. Everyone has breaking points guys. Let's not push them to theirs.

There. Off my chest.

Whilst i agree with your sentiments the simple fact is that SI/Sega/Steam are businesses not charities. Its a business that consumers pay to recieve a certain service/gaming experience. Therefore as a customer i have a right to air my grevances. People here have jobs solely to make a football game. Considering the amount of money these guys make off of us i really doubt that any form of complaining will stop them wanting to make money, and if they did someone would look at their formula and step into the void. If there were no complaints or dissatisfaction aired would the powers that be seek to solve the obvious problems?

I agree.

Apart from the extremely annoying let-down of the authenticating it (whatever happened to paying for the game, installing it and playing it???) and the heart-breakingly hard tactics, I love the game, as I always have done and no-doubt will

So come on SI, increase SWP's stats officially and make me happy!

I'm pretty happy about the game atm. I'm just ****ed off about how jittery 2d classic view is. It's not my gfx card because I can play 3D pretty dam smooth, I just prefer 2d alot more. If I wanted 3d I'd play fifa manager (even though its pretty poo.)

I'm not too worried. SI love making the games and, let's face it, if they quit, they'd have to find a much less exciting way of making money.

Don't get me wrong. There cannot be much better ways of bringing in the bacon. I imagine they put a shift in though getting this thing write. I was just concerned that some of the stuff written recently has been less than constructive and sometimes bordering on abusive. I just think a lot of the ***** is unwarranted. This game has kept many of us going for years.

Don't get me wrong. There cannot be much better ways of bringing in the bacon. I imagine they put a shift in though getting this thing write. I was just concerned that some of the stuff written recently has been less than constructive and sometimes bordering on abusive. I just think a lot of the ***** is unwarranted. This game has kept many of us going for years.

Just a word of advice. Your posts are perfectly constructive, but you'll end up with a warning against your name if you keep swearing.

Agree completely.

With all the will in the world, no one could test such a complex game over a year and find every single bug and mistake - well they could, but they would have to employ tens of thousands of people to do so (and imagine managing a workforce that large!?).

If people are expecting a game that is bug free and ready to roll straight from the box then they are sadly mistaken. I have no idea what it takes to make a computer game, however i can imagine that the more advanced they get the harder it will be for the designers to get them spot on.

To use a football example, you can train forever and ever, but nothing can prepare you for match day except good old match practise.

SI is NOT the only game in town. There's always ChampMan

Bottom line, if I get stuck with a ***** product THAT I PAID FOR, the vendor will hear about it. I don't give a toss for the "feelings" of a corporation.

Like lots of others on here, I have played these games for quite a few years. With this release, SI seem to have been quite ambitious on many fronts. Living in South Korea as I do, I am expecting a copy to land sometime this weekend. UPS has added about a tenner to the game but hey. I could have bought a Jap copy but my Kanji isn't what it was. I use a mac so understand the frustration of those waiting for the patch.

My point is this though. There will be a patch and It will be soon. There will be problems with it as well. People will also moan about taking their copies back to the store. They will also put messages on here about how the company no longer cares. I don't go with this.

If they didn't care, they wouldn't try so many new features. So the thing could have been tested more. Listen, in my work I send articles to print on a daily basis. I check them, my colleagues check them, hell everyone checks them. It is amazing how mistakes that should be obvious evade this quality control.

I firmly believe that everything they have done this year, from STEAM to the 3d have been done to enhance our interaction with the game. So some things have not gone to plan with some people. What I am urging here is patience. The majority of us are not merely customers. This is like religion to us. It did not take a genius to workout that their would be problems. We buy the thing anyway. We will do next year. We are on this journey with SI and for their part they have delivered a pretty realistic product. Once it is properly patched up (which I imagine will be soon) there will be no beating it.

What I don't want to see is all the personal crap written about the company. Let's keep it constructive and get behind them. As I have said, I know that things could have been better with this release. But realise this, SI and the football manager brand are the ONLY show in town and if they decided to 'hang up their boots' (pardon the pun) we would all be screwed. Everyone has breaking points guys. Let's not push them to theirs.

There. Off my chest.

Whilst i agree with your sentiments the simple fact is that SI/Sega/Steam are businesses not charities. Its a business that consumers pay to recieve a certain service/gaming experience. Therefore as a customer i have a right to air my grevances. People here have jobs solely to make a football game. Considering the amount of money these guys make off of us i really doubt that any form of complaining will stop them wanting to make money, and if they did someone would look at their formula and step into the void. If there were no complaints or dissatisfaction aired would the powers that be seek to solve the obvious problems?

I think that many people who play this are more than customers. Of course we have the right to air our grievances but we also have to understand a little about what they are trying to do. Personally I don't agree with the DRM activation bit. It didn't stop the game being on mininova with a crack minutes after release. However, they are trying this for a reason. Most of us will buy the game as we want them to continue developing it in years to come.

I do agree that we have a right to hold them to task but it should be constructive. Also, this is not like a mobile phone contract where you can change suppliers. Football manager is it. There is no competitor.

Anyway, I have other problems than the mac patch. The ****head above me has been at the soju again and is likely to be singing all night. Great eh.

Let's just make a few things clear:

Yes, most of the SI team are in it because they love making the game;

However, SI and Sega are both businesses so their primary aim has to be to make money;

Putting in enhancements is a natural progression of the game - nobody would buy it if it didn't improve year on year

Football Manager is one of the most profitable games around, so there's no chance of SI and Sega packing it in just because of the churlish nature of some of the forum members ...

HOWEVER...

I could definitely see some of them deciding not to post here anymore if they continue to be met with abuse and trolls (you know who you are, and you should know better). I personally like the fact that they post on here, which is why I'm always polite when posting to them - even if I'm being critical. The SI and Sega guys aren't above criticism, they're some of their own biggest critics, but to be met with abuse? No thanks.

If that was me, I'd say, OK, this isn't in the job description, I'll stick to making the game and leave the forums alone (perhaps this is in Miles' JD, I'm not sure).

Just a word of advice. Your posts are perfectly constructive, but you'll end up with a warning against your name if you keep swearing.

Oh right, like that is it lol. I will tone the language in future. This is my first post. I don't normally think of writing on here although i am an avid reader. Also to the guy who says ChampMan is suitable alternative, I don't think so. It should be renamed Champ(just sign Tuncay and win everything)man.

It should be renamed Champ(just sign Tuncay and win everything)man.

I wish that were true in real life. *sigh*

(Middlesbrough fan)

In Symbol's why this would never happen:

£ $ € ₧ ¥ ₣ ₫

Say no more!

I could definitely see some of them deciding not to post here anymore if they continue to be met with abuse and trolls (you know who you are, and you should know better). I personally like the fact that they post on here, which is why I'm always polite when posting to them - even if I'm being critical. The SI and Sega guys aren't above criticism, they're some of their own biggest critics, but to be met with abuse? No thanks.

To be fair GillsMan, you are a moderator and as such should be dealing with the abusers.

I've seen posts get infractions which were no where near as offensive and/or abusive as some I've seen since Friday, and being a moderator on another site (albeit only with 20,000 members) I would have some of these guys out here so fast they wouldnt know what hit them, no matter what their post count is, which is what seems to matter to some people.

Don't take that as criticism either, just an observation.

OP - I agree totally with your thread, I think the "true fans" are the ones who stick with your company through good times and bad, criticising and praising when needs be, supporting SI when they need it especially at a time like this, and not to go around accusing them of lieing when you have your own personal agenda against them because they didn't add something you wanted 5 years ago.

Fair play to you for coming and posting this.

Let's just make a few things clear:

Yes, most of the SI team are in it because they love making the game;

However, SI and Sega are both businesses so their primary aim has to be to make money;

Putting in enhancements is a natural progression of the game - nobody would buy it if it didn't improve year on year

Football Manager is one of the most profitable games around, so there's no chance of SI and Sega packing it in just because of the churlish nature of some of the forum members ...

HOWEVER...

I could definitely see some of them deciding not to post here anymore if they continue to be met with abuse and trolls (you know who you are, and you should know better). I personally like the fact that they post on here, which is why I'm always polite when posting to them - even if I'm being critical. The SI and Sega guys aren't above criticism, they're some of their own biggest critics, but to be met with abuse? No thanks.

If that was me, I'd say, OK, this isn't in the job description, I'll stick to making the game and leave the forums alone (perhaps this is in Miles' JD, I'm not sure).

Thats what I like on here, although I never post to reply to them or post directly to their attention I like the SI being present on here. I'm a member on other boards but I never check them anymore, there's no point. On here you feel as though the company is listening and when you are discussing something they may get involved.

They also keep us up to date with progress of things, I.E patches, what they are improving, and the fact you can upload bug problems and they will look into if you can provide proof is fantastic.

Saying that, I think SI have made a huge mistake this year and im really sorry to say this but..... I won't be buying another copy of FM.... because I like this 09 too much!! Keep up the good work SI!

To be fair GillsMan, you are a moderator and as such should be dealing with the abusers.

I've seen posts get infractions which were no where near as offensive and/or abusive as some I've seen since Friday, and being a moderator on another site (albeit only with 20,000 members) I would have some of these guys out here so fast they wouldnt know what hit them, no matter what their post count is, which is what seems to matter to some people.

Don't take that as criticism either, just an observation.

OP - I agree totally with your thread, I think the "true fans" are the ones who stick with your company through good times and bad, criticising and praising when needs be, supporting SI when they need it especially at a time like this, and not to go around accusing them of lieing when you have your own personal agenda against them because they didn't add something you wanted 5 years ago.

Fair play to you for coming and posting this.

GillsMan's only been a moderator for about two weeks, I think I was pleased to see him appointed - the site needed a lot more mods.

The new forum format allows for trolls and pirates to be gotten rid of fairly quickly, in my opinion - people are given the opportunity to learn to post constructively and then get shown the door. Fair enough.

To be fair GillsMan, you are a moderator and as such should be dealing with the abusers.

I've seen posts get infractions which were no where near as offensive and/or abusive as some I've seen since Friday, and being a moderator on another site (albeit only with 20,000 members) I would have some of these guys out here so fast they wouldnt know what hit them, no matter what their post count is, which is what seems to matter to some people.

Don't take that as criticism either, just an observation.

I've only been a mod since Friday afternoon, and you'd be surprised how many people have been banned/infracted. We've had to let some stuff slide, partly because we can understand people's frustrations, and partly because we don't want to ban anybody, but the abusive stuff has been dealt with. We rely on people reporting posts as well as the mods seeing any offences - as you can imagine we can't see all posts, so if one is missed by us and isn't reported, there's not a great deal we can do.

But yeah, as Super Bladesman says, trolling's been dealt with well because of the infraction system.

My apologies to you, I guess it speaks volumes that I thought you had been for longer!

I've done my bit in reporting as I know you can't catch everything, but as you say there's people who should know better and they seem to have gotten away with some pretty bad posts, this is of course in my opinion tho.

I like the infraction system personally but in my view personal friendship has stopped some people getting at least one, and I'm not talking about you here GillsMan.

Keep up the good work tho

get a grip mate, they will never have a breaking point as long as they make so much money off of us customers.

I agree that a game like this is bound to have to have a patch, I have no problem with it, but we as paying customers have the right to vent our feelings.

One thing i'd love to know is how to SI accomodate those customers who do not have the internet? Those that are not fortunate enough to be able to download a patch, and there are many out there. Do SI warn customers before buying the game that it is not playable out of the box? Do they advise customers without internet access NOT to buy the game as they wont be able to enjoy it?

I don't think so. So before we forget that first of all they are there to make money & then secondly look after the customer, let's not get carried away.

That being said, I have loved the games over the years despite my dissapointment with the last installment in certain areas, and you are correct in saying there is no other alternative.

But whilst there is paying customers, they will NEVER take their ball and go home.

Like lots of others on here, I have played these games for quite a few years. With this release, SI seem to have been quite ambitious on many fronts. Living in South Korea as I do, I am expecting a copy to land sometime this weekend. UPS has added about a tenner to the game but hey. I could have bought a Jap copy but my Kanji isn't what it was. I use a mac so understand the frustration of those waiting for the patch.

My point is this though. There will be a patch and It will be soon. There will be problems with it as well. People will also moan about taking their copies back to the store. They will also put messages on here about how the company no longer cares. I don't go with this.

If they didn't care, they wouldn't try so many new features. So the thing could have been tested more. Listen, in my work I send articles to print on a daily basis. I check them, my colleagues check them, hell everyone checks them. It is amazing how mistakes that should be obvious evade this quality control.

I firmly believe that everything they have done this year, from STEAM to the 3d have been done to enhance our interaction with the game. So some things have not gone to plan with some people. What I am urging here is patience. The majority of us are not merely customers. This is like religion to us. It did not take a genius to workout that their would be problems. We buy the thing anyway. We will do next year. We are on this journey with SI and for their part they have delivered a pretty realistic product. Once it is properly patched up (which I imagine will be soon) there will be no beating it.

What I don't want to see is all the personal crap written about the company. Let's keep it constructive and get behind them. As I have said, I know that things could have been better with this release. But realise this, SI and the football manager brand are the ONLY show in town and if they decided to 'hang up their boots' (pardon the pun) we would all be screwed. Everyone has breaking points guys. Let's not push them to theirs.

There. Off my chest.

It doesn't matter that there is a patch coming out soon, it should not need a patch to make it playable and if it does, then why is one side of the customers getting theirs on release day and the others aren't. To a large extent, they don't care. They are here soley for the purpose to make ££££. They couldn't care less if one guys saved game corrupted. They do care if every customer said put army men on the pitch instead of dots. This game has hardly had many "new" features. I bet half of these things could have been implemented, and have been suggested, in the past.

Of course everything added was to enhance our interaction and experience. No one would buy something that made the experience worse because there's no point. But the moaning comes because the things added have been added so poorly, that there seems no point in actually adding it in the first place. 3D will not get better this year so that issue is closed, we're stuck with it and it's affected 2D aswell, this has made the experience worse. The personal stuff is only to be expected, I'm sure they aren't gonna throw a wobbler and stop producing the game cause a few people said your product is crap, they gotta make money. If they did do this large act of stupidity, then we would all go to the next manager game, or someone with a keen eye for business will use the "broken" gap in the market and make another money spinner and SI will be sitting there feeling like lemons.

*waves at fellow Livingstonian*

Whereabouts in Livi are you?

hows it goin djwilko6 ?

Im in the eliburn area mate, yourself?

hows it goin djwilko6 ?

Im in the eliburn area mate, yourself?

Up past the hospital? I'm over in Stoneyburn, technically Bathgate I know, but who's heard of Bathgate

yeh just past the hospital mate.

think your the first person from livingston ive come across on here

haha a livingston fan?... they rock.. only other i support bar my local side

no I am from Livingston i dont actually support the team, they only brought a team to Livingston when i was about 10, im a Celtic fan

lol my step-dad supported them alway back to 70's when they were meadowbank thistle.. So of course i went to a game, Scottish cup Vs Hibs in the Semi-Final. I'm actually a Sheff Utd fan and was looking forward to starting a season with them and nurturing Kyle Naughton into a legend but atm i cnt get it too work

have you reported your problems? these forums are always a good help for me personally when im stuck with something

Yep... got no answers or anything... I'm really dissapointed and im losing my enthusiasim to play it. I want to get it working quickly

yeh just past the hospital mate.

think your the first person from livingston ive come across on here

Yeah thats why I said a quick hi

I'm actually English and have only been up here for 5 years, born and bred in Southampton so I support them.

I hate being out here, it's so far from the "Centre", 40min bus ride, I'd walk from Eliburn

haha you stopping our play-off dream !

We couldn't stop a thing the way we're going at the moment

Blame Beattie, he's useless everywhere except with us

Assuming you're a Blades fan anyway

of course would never support wednesday :O i cnt believe you asked lol

This season i can see us going far...

of course would never support wednesday :O i cnt believe you asked lol

This season i can see us going far...

Haha I try never to make assumptions.

I can see Saints going far too, FARthur away from the Premiership