Why does SI deliberately corrupt/tarnish the Game's data

I thought long and hard about writing this thread, and its been lingering in my mind for over a month.

Please don't take this thread the wrong way but see it in the light of constructive criticism and feedback

If this still comes across as somewhat negative and bashful I'd like to say to my defensive that I have a terrible hangover when writing this thread.

Disclaimer:

The data in the SI games in the CM and later FM series is second to none in the gaming industry. I

would probably rank it the best, most vast, comprehensive and precise database in the football-related industry.

It predicts ability and potential far better than any magazine or TV program. There are countless examples

of players who are almost perfectly constructed so they match their ability in real life also some of the

predictions of future stars have been very impressive one that I would perhaps like to highlight was the

prediction of Daniele Dessena (as one of Italy's brightest prospects) already 4 years ago or the rise of

Milito. I therefor hold the player data very dear and almost consider it a work of art.

So I am therefore left completeley dumbfounded why there would be deliberate manipulation of it to make it worse. It would be like tagging a Picasso, or having one of the nicest buffet the world has ever seen and then standing up on a chair and urinating over it.

What I'm talking about is the deliberate changes in some player's data making them superstar. Since the data is otherwise so correct and precise I can't see this as being unintentional or a mistake of judgement. I am not talking about the fact that in FM2008 Asmoah Gyan and Leighton Baines are a bit overrated

while Forestieri and Diego Buonanotte are underrated. That can be argued as differences of opinion or lapse

of judgement. In the past I have even rushed to a sturdy defense when the data issue

was questioned a couple of years ago.

It started out with

Tonton Makokoula (is today plying his trade in IK Sleipner and is an amateur)

Eric Nevland (was a good striker in the Norweigan league and is now an average striker in the Ervedise)

Who can forget the trio from the maltese league and from the club Birkinhara of Chuks Nwoko, Michael Mifsud and the goalkeeper

some other guy that would take the football world by storm in the game.

it then went on to

Anatoli Todorov a player made so good it was as if the lovechild between a young Ronaldo (el gordo) and

Marco Van Basten had come to life. Todorov is today playing in the minor divisions in Bulgaria and is

this version of the data also contained Lasha Chelidze (who would become the next Maldini) and Ozaze Odemwinge a fictional player that at best can be described as the "alter ego" of Nigerian international Peter Odemwingie (who was maybe even a bit underated in that version), a player that would go as far as becoming the Nigerian Cristinao Ronaldo

Then there was the infamous Leobohang Mokoena who would after a couple of seasons outshine just about every striker in the game, Mokoena seems to have had a brief stint in the Turkish league before returning to South Africa he has 4 caps to his name.

In the FM2008 version these nonsense and "inflated stats" players seem to have lessend and reality has prevailed I first thought. Until I came across the squad of Turun Palloseura in the Finish Premier League. A club as ridiculous as it's name. Looking at their player squad in the editor I find 3 players with -9 and 4 players with -8.

Since I have quite indepth knowledge of the Scandinavian leagues professionally I know that this is completley not the case. They are one of the better youth development clubs in Finland but three players with -9 and -8!? Looking at the Finish Powerhouse club HJK Helsiniki they have three players with -8 potential. Taking a brief look at some of Europe's best development clubs such as Sporting, Ajax, Atalanta and Juventus none have more -9 players. Sporting has only one and Ajax have none, but the modest

TPS has 3. 4 years into the game the Finish NAtional team is much better and 8 of the 10 youngest players in the squad all

come from TPS.

Since I know Scandinavian football quite well I was able to weed out this club after my second run in the game. Only problem is the database is very vast and who knows if something similar has been created in say the Chilean league or colombian league that I don't know then even discovering the problem becomes harder.

I think this takes away from the realism of the experience and it is SI outspoken ambition to make the game an enjoyable and

realistic experience.

My question is Why?

What is the motive behind this tainting?

Where along the road of data collection does this become tweaked and who does it?

I have my own ideas and theories about this and it is my ambition to vent some of them as the thread progresses.

Motives? Intentionally?

The SI researchers are unpaid. Therefore every now and then when an over eager fan gets a club and the national head researcher is a little lax, things like this will sneak through. It's a concenquence of not having a professional, paid team. The other concequence though is the brilliant database we have.

Things will happen. Every now and then a fake player will make his way in, or a team will be over rated.

One theory is that no matter how good our predictions are there are always some "freak" players that come out of nowhere and take the world by storm in reality (such as Dudek and Torichelli) and that one needs "cinderella clubs" who have a magical season in the Champions League.

But the my question is why not make them more in accordance with the real world.

Cinderella Teams

could be Artmedia, Anorthosis Farmagust and FC Thun smaller clubs that have all managed to get into the Champions League due to some shock results. Instead of just picking a team out of thin air.

Same can be said for player potential in the edition that Anatoli Todorov was created to have his super potential why not give that potential to Valeri Boijinov instead who was actually touted as one of the brightest Bulgarian prospects since Stoichkov.

Well regen quality is effected somewhat by how their country are doing internationally. You said that Finland were doing well, which would result in good regens coming through; while Holland could be doing bad and their regens would turn out crappier than other countries. Also I noticed you saying how this was better in FM08, does that mean that you are having problems with a version earlier than 08? Have you even tried 09?

Motives? Intentionally?

The SI researchers are unpaid. Therefore every now and then when an over eager fan gets a club and the national head researcher is a little lax, things like this will sneak through. It's a concenquence of not having a professional, paid team. The other concequence though is the brilliant database we have.

Things will happen. Every now and then a fake player will make his way in, or a team will be over rated.

I can tell you R0x0r that I almost used the identical words and arguements to defend the issue when someone brought it up a couple of years ago

But I don't buy that completley I mean

When the Database is put together all that needs to be done is quick search (by the developers) to find a team with three -9 players (So far I have only found FC Barcelona that exceed Turun Palloseura) in a Finish League.

And I don't think players such as Todorov just happend to "sneak" through I mean he goes on to become the best, most expensive footballer in every run of that game.

I mean there should be a failsafe like not allowing a researcher to give -10 or -9 potential to players (young players 18-21) that never been called up to the youth national teams.

Well regen quality is effected somewhat by how their country are doing internationally. You said that Finland were doing well, which would result in good regens coming through; while Holland could be doing bad and their regens would turn out crappier than other countries. Also I noticed you saying how this was better in FM08, does that mean that you are having problems with a version earlier than 08? Have you even tried 09?

This was and has been an issue in every game's data

My arguement has nothing to do with Regens, These are the players collected by the data (Turun Palloseura's -9 are players that are in the game before the regens kick in)

I brought up examples since in every game there are a handful of players with unaturally high stats. I once believed that it was the researcher "human error" theory but the difference is too extreme to be attributed to that.

Of course, a -9 rating doesn't mean they'll fulfill that potential. Look no further than the American regens for the MLS draft. In past versions of FM (using a program like Genie Scout) players available for the draft would oftentimes have PA's of 170+ and CA's in the 70's at age 22 or 23.

looknohands that is very true and since the players stats don't increase that much past the age of 23 that would make sense since their PA might not be that reachable then...

But in this case the CA of Turun players is too high also

Ääritalo has for instance 140 CA and -9 PA

looknohands that is very true and since the players stats don't increase that much past the age of 23 that would make sense since their PA might not be that reachable then...

But in this case the CA of Turun players is too high also

Ääritalo has for instance 140 CA and -9 PA

Please don't reveal precise CAs and PAs in this forum. Thanks.