Casual Player or Not

[JD nawrat]

My honest opinion is, that you can't get a casual 'FM Player'.

When you play a game, you want to do well at it, even if you still do badly most of the time, you'll want to do well, if you're a casual gamer.

When you play FM, you expect to win often. You may start as a casual gamer, I did, but I've turned into a proper player of FM...

[ScobieB]

I agree with JDownie, it hard to be a casual player of FM. There are so many things involved in even getting to the first match, tactics, buying players, naming captains. And these in themselves push you further and further into the game.

[jod123]

Ok as some of you think nobody can play casually , let's rephrase it to just ask people how they play and what they leave to their assistant or don't do at all.

[StormenDK]

I rarely play FM ... especially in FM08 I got very frustrated (often) with what seemed to be minute management of everything to have any kind of success. Though I did manage a season as Bath City with a promotion to follow. But that was with a bunch of re-loads when I got too frustrated

Now I am back for more in FM09, though it seems a bit "easier" to manage this time around. I read a bit on the forums, but it annoys me that I sometimes use 2-3 hours reading guides and threads instead of playing.

Anyways .... i am by no means an expert on the game, and haven't played long enough in the FM series to have more than 2-3 seasons done before the next game came.

* I Rarely Tutor Players, since I never understood how it works. But I will try it more from now on.

* I have never made Players Learn New Moves

* I have never made Players Learn New Positions

* Almost never use player interaction feature.

* When buying players I am forced to look for free transfers, and initially grab anything I can get on trials for my friendly games. I like players from smaller nations, so the first season as Bath City in Conf. South, my team is often riddled with various dual-citizenship caribbean players

* I attend the press conferences, but I am sure I will get so bored with the same questions soon, that I will switch to AssMan doing them.

* I usually let my AssMan do it TeamTalks, though i adjust it as needed.

* I ALWAYS pick my lineup for the first team. I rarely consult my AssMan for that. I have little patience for the reserve squad or U18s, though I do keep an eye on them. I think you could once force certain players into the reserve line-ups by putting them on a certain position in the tactics screen .. wish I could do that again. Then I could force the use of trialists without having to take control of the games.

* I almost never use opposition instructions. Since you have to redo them every time the tactics change or there are substitutions :S ... too much micromanagement.

* I have made individual training schedules for each of my players (also the youth players) .... though I read a thread about how training REALLY works, so I might do something different next time around

* I love buying and selling players, so I buy many players over a season ... i rarely sell any (yet) as most of them suck and nobody wants them.

* I used to spend hours reading the tactics guides, and made loads of RuleOfOne tactics. But it annoyed me endlessly that if I picked the wrong setup, my team could get beaten by 5 goals by a team 4 divisions beneath me. And this happened consistantly in FM08. I have switched to some downloaded ones now (TTF I think) and rarely change them.

* I play matches on medium speed with extended highlights. I have no patience to watch the whole thing.

* Pre-season: I ALWAYS as a small club arrange a friendly at home against one of the major local teams (the one in the initial list when selecting an opponent) as it can give me 30k income, which is nice, so I don't have to worry too much about going into deficits.