What Is the Impact Of Different Levels Of Motivation?

[Nad]

I see there are quite a few threads in this forum about teamtalks and how to get players playing confidently, but what I haven't seen is an explanation of what the impact of different motivation levels is in game terms.

Clearly from in-game observation, my players seem to play best when they're "playing with confidence" or "fired up" and play worst when they're "playing nervously" but what are the actual effects on the player's ability / traits / performance of the different motivation levels? And how different are the different types of motivation, eg what is the actual difference (in game terms) between "playing nervously" and "looking complacent"?

Similarly how much difference is there between "looking motivated" and "fired-up"? And which is really better, "fired up" or "playing with confidence"?

Also, is it possible to predict the impact of scoring / conceding a goal on motivation level? Eg if I concede a goal and go behind some players automatically go from "playing ok" to "looking motivated" or "fired up", but what determines which players do this?

Sorry for the deluge of questions, your advice is appreciated.

Thanks

[phnompenhandy]

Good question, and I'm looking forward to some informed answers. For the last point I can tell you that what determines their reaction is their personality attributes - Determination along with hidden ones such as Professionalism.

[SFraser]

From watching players behave ingame it looks to me like Concentration, Composure and Decision making are quite significantly affected by motivation levels. Low levels of motivation when in possession look almost exactly like a drop in Composure and low levels of motivation when not in possession look like a drop in Concentration and Decision making. Likewise high levels of motivation are the converse. Faster, more snappier play that maintains accuracy and quality would only presumably arise from increased Composure and Decision making.

Those are the obvious ones as I see it, and I would bet on these attributes being modified by motivation levels if pushed to make a conclusion. Other attributes cannot be ruled out but these are essentially the attributes that reflect a players "state of mind" rather than ability or personality on the pitch.

I would not be surprised to see quirks in the system, for example a Fired Up! player experiencing increased Concentration and decreased Composure, or increased Determination and Aggression and Bravery at the expense of Decision making etc. I would very surprised to see Technical and Physical attributes at all influenced by motivation levels and would likewise be unsurprised to see a large number of mental attributes involved in motivation.

I could not go into detail of specific values for specific levels. I doubt it would be very large though.

Your other questions are more complex as they would depend on the individual player in question and particular match contexts.

[Edle]

I would not be surprised to see quirks in the system, for example a Fired Up! player experiencing increased Concentration and decreased Composure, or increased Determination and Aggression and Bravery at the expense of Decision making etc. I would very surprised to see Technical and Physical attributes at all influenced by motivation levels and would likewise be unsurprised to see a large number of mental attributes involved in motivation.

This point in particular is very interesting to me. I think such changes to a players attributes and the way they are presented would add a lot of interest to the gameply, as well as making it a lot more life like. I think it very noteworthy to say that all of the attributes in the game are potentially complimentary to another and if one is affected by something like motivation for a game, or team talks etc, then some other attribute would also be effected. As you have said, if a player was fired up, he could be fired to the point where he will begin to act and play in an irrational form that doesnt necessarily reflect his true attributes and qualities.

[SFraser]

This point in particular is very interesting to me. I think such changes to a players attributes and the way they are presented would add a lot of interest to the gameply, as well as making it a lot more life like.

That is how I think the system currently works, not how it potentially could work, and it is a view I have held for some time now.

[phnompenhandy]

Sounds very sensible guesswork there SF. If the ME does indeed follow such common sense lines, might we expect to see some effect on physical and technical attributes too? For example, I could imagine a poorly motivated player being slower, less agile, maybe tackling less well.

And on further reflection, say a player has composure 10. Does that mean it's at 10 when he's MOST motivated or is it average? When he's 'playing okay' is his composure running at 8? If so, can we conclude that a player with Composure 10, Determination and Professionalism 20 is actually more composed that one with Composure 11, Det, Prof 5?

[SFraser]

Sounds very sensible guesswork there SF. If the ME does indeed follow such common sense lines, might we expect to see some effect on physical and technical attributes too? For example, I could imagine a poorly motivated player being slower, less agile, maybe tackling less well.

A poorly motivated player wouldn't be physically slower but he would perhaps have lower Workrate, lower Determination. Likewise his ability to Tackle wouldn't decline, but his timing of the tackle, his aggression to get involved, his bravery to commit to a potentially painful tackle, his concentration etc. would be affected.

Take Robinho at the weekend when Manchester City played Everton. He didn't lack the physical and technical attributes of Robinho, he didn't lack Robinho's pace and Ball Control, he just couldn't be bothered to do anything or focus on anything or take the time to execute anything well.

I am not saying that Physical and Technical attributes are absolutely not affected for I simply don't know that for sure. What I am saying is that if Anticipation and Composure and Concentration and Workrate are all lowered in a player he will start miscontrolling passes, mishitting shots, mistiming runs, panicking under pressure, failing to get involved and refusing to track back. Atleast compared to his normal performance levels.

The big thing about Mental Attributes is that there is always a lot of them involved in the completion of an action. Controlling a pass may only use First Touch and Technique of the technical panel and nothing from the physical panel, but it will use Concentration to determine if the player is focusing on the move, Anticipation to determine if the player can adequately prepare for the move in time even when he is focusing on the next event, Composure to determine how much care he takes to control the ball and decide on his next move, Decisions to determine how good a choice of move he makes. Then and only then will Technique and First Touch come into play to see actually how well he does control the ball when it reaches his foot, assuming ofcourse that it does reach his foot and he is not half an hour behind the move while ten yards infront of the ball.

And on further reflection, say a player has composure 10. Does that mean it's at 10 when he's MOST motivated or is it average? When he's 'playing okay' is his composure running at 8? If so, can we conclude that a player with Composure 10, Determination and Professionalism 20 is actually more composed that one with Composure 11, Det, Prof 5?

I can understand the reasoning behind that question, because obviously with 20 in all mental attributes as standard any motivation bonus would be non-existant. However it is incredibly rare to find players with one mental attribute at 20 let alone many.

I would imagine that the basic function of attributes has never really changed in the game, therefore they are still the baseline score and the Motivation system is an additional feature added ontop of this and functions to modify what we see in the profile. This is pure speculation but it seems the most likely situation.

Also, the premise that attributes are modified is also speculation so we are compounding speculation here.

Having said that, I do think it is quite possible and entireally reasonable for Mental attributes to be modified slightly by motivation considering what actually happens ingame, therefore an easilly motivated player that has XYZ personality could be considered to be superior mentally for all intents and purposes. I would imagine that most users already manage according to something similar albeit perhaps not with such directed intention. I personally prefer Professional and Determined players that respond to criticism and ultimately that is because Professional and Determined players that respond well to criticism will get motivated at half-time, perform better in the second half, and be less likely to get upset. Everyone seems to prefer Professional and Determined players for these obvious reasons, and it looks like a case of everyone gravitating towards what works through practice without perhaps knowing the fine details of why it works.