[Suggestion] The Messi and Ronaldo of this Generation (and a little bit of future context.)

[YKW]

I think it would be cool if progressing into the future was a bit more authentic and compelling in its own right. While I’m playing in the future I’m obviously pretending that my in game universe is real, and this could be aided by the game playing along with me.

So I’ve considered how I’ve personally experienced football (and wider society) change over my lifetime and tried to apply that to the context of FM.

The first thing I find interesting is that there are “generations” of football fans: young kids seeing their first matches, young adults who have seen an entire player’s career for the first time (Rooney,) older adults who are adamant that football didn’t begin in 1992, and even more seasoned veterans who remember England winning the world cup, and who as young children would drink and smoke heavily in the hopes of one day emulating their idols.

Over the next 20 years or so the demographics of these groups will be basically the same, but the specific people within them will have changed. Based on this I feel you can take the feelings, mood, experiences, attitudes etc of each generation and then transpose them onto a hypothetical future generation (who see and say the same things but in a fresh context, based on the legend of their time.)

 

1. The Messi and Ronaldo of THIS Generation

Firstly (and most controversially) I think the Match Engine should have hardcoded superior abilities for 1 or 2 players every generation. Some of FM’s Roles have this side to them which in my opinion demonstrates that something like this should be possible in theory. In addition to this there was an old version of the game where you could use an IGE to change all the players’ attributes to 127(?) and they would play like gods, with superhuman shooting and dribbling, etc. It was pretty amazing. I’m looking for a combination of these two things.

a) The Messi Style – Supreme dribbling, no skill moves

b) The Ronaldo Style – Supreme dribbling, lots of skill moves

Let’s skip a generation of players and assume the best two players in the world are now Newgens. If one is small with great balance, dribbling, teamwork etc then they may have the Messi Style. If one is tall, lean, powerful with great dribbling and flair and perhaps lower teamwork then they may have the Ronaldo style. However my favourite possibility is that there would be other styles, some fictional and some based on historic players, which would have the chance of becoming the style of one of the Messi and Ronaldo of this generation. For example:

b) The Ronaldinho style – Supreme dribbling, lots of INSANE skill moves and lobbing it over people’s heads.

c) The Ibrahimovic style – Sheer physical dominance, great dribbling, beastly shot power

d) The Real Ronaldo style – incredible dribbling, especially around goalkeepers

e) The Beckham style – Insane long ball and crossing ability. Supreme set piece ability. Curls the ball.

I am talking about these things being SPECIAL. Yes there are already good dribblers and long passers but in these rare cases you would see things that were much better than what you had seen before, even if it was a bit crazy at times. It’s also an interesting idea that I could be compelled to attend more matches within FM in order to see the best players play (because they would actually do things I wouldn’t see elsewhere.)

 

Without getting too intricate with criteria it would be nice to see more mention of Messi and Ronaldo in the context that people mention Pele and Maradonna today. The younger generation will more likely be completely drawn in to the new legends of say Odegaard and M’bappe, whereas older generations (of the time) will perhaps be more likely to be clinging on to their memories of Ronaldo/Messi in a nostalgic way, and saying that Odegaard and M’Bappe still have a lot to prove, etc. Once this generation passes and the next generation arrives then they will probably be totally besotted with Newgens A and B, and the “older” crowd will probably have a nostalgic affection for Odegaard and M’Bappe. And so on, you get the idea.

You could also anchor the status of the “reigning Messi and Ronaldo” through media and social media etc. For example the occasional mention that “Player X has signed a deal to appear on the cover of this year’s leading football console game.” or “Player Y has signed a deal with a global fashion brand,” etc. Or even “Player Z met with the President of Country A for some reason.”

You could also have the “reigning legend(s)” commenting in the press about the new legends. For example in the year 2028 Ronaldo will probably commenting on M’Bappe or Odegaard, either saying that they have what it takes or, more likely, saying that they aren’t as good as he was.

If a situation arises whereby social media in the game shows me a list of ‘trending’ football topics, then obviously the Messi/Ronaldo of the time will feature heavily.

It would also be good if more Newgens would come through with Messi/Ronaldo as favoured personnel (idol), perhaps even with similar positions and preferred moves, or perhaps favouring the clubs they played for. In future generations then instead of Messi/Ronaldo it would be the equivalent pair of players, even if they were Newgens themselves.

 

 

2. “Retro”

If I were inside my FM game, then this would be the past. What to me is the future is actually “retro” to my manager character and the rest of the people in his world.

So how about a small selection of news items and social media posts etc that only trigger once you reach a certain date? For example:

In social media in 2038 you could see: “That last minute winner has made my dad start “dabbing” around the front room. #Retro.” Or “When I was a lad halftime meant a prawn sandwich and a coffee , none of this “Matchday Meal Replacement Pill” nonsense.” Or “This perfectly stable internet is making kids soft! In my day we had to switch it off and switch it back on again. Even if it meant going downstairs.”

Or perhaps, in one of those things that SI call “cutscenes,” you could see an ex-legend of the club being brought onto the pitch at halftime and getting a cheer from the crowd.

As an even more outrageous suggestion, how about having some bizarre hairstyle trends that can catch on in the future? If the Newgen faces were improved then it could be really funny to get to 2030 and see that lots of footballers are once again sporting a mullet. Or to get to 2050 and some of the weirder ones can kick in, like a small cone of hair at the very top of the head or something. And have Social Media posts in this year laughing at the hairstyles of the players in the “videos of our 2018 cup win.”

 

3. News of the Time

This will seem pointless, however I think it is an interesting and fun way of anchoring me in the future world. So I’ve just gone to Wikipedia’s timeline of near future events and picked some that would just come up as an inconspicuous message in the world news section. Obviously they would occur when the game reached the appropriate date.

-          July 2019 – Apollo 11 50^th anniversary

-          2020 Olympics in Tokyo

-          2020 China Launches its first Space Station

-          2022 European Space Agency sets sail for Jupiter’s moons

-          2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing

-          2024 Planned human mission to Mars

-          2024 Olympics in Paris

-          July 2028 Total solar eclipse in Australia and New Zealand

-          2028 Olympics in Los Angeles

-          2029 Message from Earth reaches Giliese 581

-          2038 Another Y2K thing, apparently

-          2040 AI possibilities

-          2042 Population is 9 billion

 

Perhaps a bit of a mess of a few ideas put together but hopefully there is something good in there. Thanks for reading.

[lukefitch]

I like the first part of the idea.  I think it would also be cool to see an all-time player ranking list of some sort. I've often wondered where my regens would be placed in the context of Football History. We have it with managers already so I don't see why it would be an issue.

 Members of the FM community could perhaps have a role in deciding the placement/rating of past players such Pele, Best, Cantona ect. That would give some credibility to the list.

In game, of course, your player's average rating would determine where they rank.

 

[CFuller]

On 14/12/2017 at 15:13, YKW said:

It would also be good if more Newgens would come through with Messi/Ronaldo as favoured personnel (idol), perhaps even with similar positions and preferred moves, or perhaps favouring the clubs they played for. In future generations then instead of Messi/Ronaldo it would be the equivalent pair of players, even if they were Newgens themselves.

'Idols' are underused within FM, in my opinion. It would be nice if newgens did idolise global superstars and base some aspects of their game on them.

To be honest, I am not so keen on the "Retro" and "News of the Time" proposals. They are not terrible ideas per se, but they are venturing somewhat into sci-fi territory. SI get enough flak as it is for 'predicting' Brexit, so imagine the reaction they would get if you could acquire a 'dream team' of androids in your 2057 youth intake. 

[Neil Brock]

Reviewed so locked.