FM Morals/Ethics surrounding reloading

[DarthCraigus]

Hey guys, bit of a hypothetical situation since I've already dealt with it but just had something happen tonight in my current save and wondered what the general consensus of the community...

So I'm in my first season as Chelsea boss, I've done abysmally in all three cup competitions - but in the Premier League I'm still in with a shout (albeit mathematically). Second in the league, 4 points behind City with 4 games to go, but things are tight, with only 4 points separating the 2nd to 6th.

Next up is a trip to West Brom, who are 10th. So long story short I put out my strongest XI, set up my tactics, opposition and team instructions and hit 'Start'. Suddenly it dawns on me I've forgotten to give a team talk. Something I never do. My team gives an absolutely dreadful first half performance, we go into the break 1-0 down and I read the riot act. Eventually scrape a 1-1 draw but I can't help but think that had I not forgotten the team talk things may go differently. It's a poor result to go with some poor individual performances and sees me drop to 5th with the help of other results.

So what is the general opinion on a situation like this. Do you look at it and say it's not like I've done my best and came up short, or do you take it on the chin and look to try and pick up with better result next time around?

Personally, I chose the former and I reloaded. If I fail in my title bid I want to fail knowing I had done my best and not because I'd got sidetracked and forgotten to give a team talk. Also I'm not looking for people to defend my choice or seek justification. I am just curious as to how others see it on the whole and why they see it that way. I reloaded, simple as that, if people think it's wrong or cheating, I respectfully don't care. Just trying to spark a bit of discussion on the topic.

*Edit* I ask this merely to find out what people's own personal boundaries/rules are for saving and reloading and I think some are missing that point. Do you avoid it no matter the situation or do you actively do it and enjoy it? What are your reasons behind it.

[danthemanwhocan]

I dont think it really matters what others think. Its your game. Absentmindedness is normal, I too have forgotten to do a team talk or two when the bubba is crying.

I will say this though, after reading through this site I will say brace your self for a bunch of replies berating you for what they consider in their save as cheating.

[DarthCraigus]

Yeah, that's true Dan - I've always felt like that's how it should be. My game so I'm free to play as I see fit. I personally don't agree with reloading if, for example, I've just had a bad result and I wont do it in my games. That takes the fun away from it for me, but again if others choose to do it then it's their game to play as they wish. If people wish to flame me, that's up to them, although as I mentioned I am not looking for people to defend my choice, rather some discussion/debate on where the line is drawn.

I know though, that it's very much frowned upon here and seen as cheating. I'm sure there are many with a mindset of never reloading, no matter the circumstance. For me this is where I draw my own line, I wont do it just to get a better result and/or just because my team are playing badly. If I can't turn it around properly then I will face the consequences in-game. I do think the situation in my OP is an exceptional circumstance, I was sidetracked with something away from the game and absent-mindedly hit start which is something I would never do.

I haven't yet replayed the game, will probably do so tomorrow now as it's late, but whatever the result win/lose/draw so long as I am able to have full control over my team, I will accept carry on. I'm not replaying because I had a bad result, I'm replaying because the lack of a team talk (IMHO) seriously affected the match.

[Leehas]

I never restart to replay. In your scenario you do make a good case for it but just seems against the rules to me. But we all have our own rules and understand why you you made that decision.

[CityAndColour]

I think it's one of those situations where you're sub-consciously giving yourself a "second chance". If you realised you forgot the team talk straight away, then you could have quit the match straight away, but your mind goes "I'll just see how this plays out first" (I've done that too). If you'd won the game you wouldn't have reloaded it, but dropping points meant you had the fall back of having made a mistake.

But as said, it's your game, so who cares? To me cheating is only in the eye of the beholder, when it comes to single player games.

[Loki679]

I wouldn't reload. You made a mistake, live with it. As far as I know your teamtalks only affect the team for 15 minutes at the beginning of each half anyway so you're reloading for a mistake which might have affected 1/6th of the game in a minor way.

[Lord Rowell]

I think the whole reloading=cheating idea is frowned upon by a vocal few here but I'm really not convinced they represent a majority.

As has already been said, its your game.

I sometimes reload for different reasons e.g. visual ME not giving me a clue what's going on which has the consequence of an unfair result, sometimes I'll replay a match to learn from my mistakes/try to solve a particular problem, or for reasons similar to those you describe yourself. In your specific case of the team talk, its highly unlikely you'd forget that in the real world, but its easy to do on a computer game. In that situation, I wouldn't be averse to just closing the program at the start of the match and just go again.

[kris0710]

You have paid your money, you play as you wish. For me, personally, i would class it as 'cheating' and wouldn't do it. But saying that i am sure every player plays different and there are things i do in my game that you maybe wouldn't.

The only time i dislike it is when people come on here and brag about how great they are and such like when they have reloaded games for whatever reason. You did what you felt was right and i really do want you to win the title after that to see if it somewhat tars the achievement.

For me i had a save going a couple of months ago that crashed and i lost four or five games. I replayed those matches and got five points more than i originally and that ruined the save for me, stupid really but it did. It was not my fault at all, i had no option but to replay the month i had lost but it felt 'dirty' that i had benefited from it. Thats just me though.

[DarthCraigus]

I think it's one of those situations where you're sub-consciously giving yourself a "second chance". If you realised you forgot the team talk straight away, then you could have quit the match straight away, but your mind goes "I'll just see how this plays out first" (I've done that too). If you'd won the game you wouldn't have reloaded it, but dropping points meant you had the fall back of having made a mistake.

But as said, it's your game, so who cares? To me cheating is only in the eye of the beholder, when it comes to single player games.

Hmmm, yeah I see where you're coming from. My immediate reaction was to quit out straight away but as you say, I thought "I'll see how it goes". But on the flip side of that, if I go back to it, use the exact same team, tactics, setup, instructions and get the win, maybe it justifies the reload? It may suggest that if I hadn't made the mistake in the first place I would've got the win, possibly.

I wouldn't reload. You made a mistake, live with it. As far as I know your teamtalks only affect the team for 15 minutes at the beginning of each half anyway so you're reloading for a mistake which might have affected 1/6th of the game in a minor way.

I must admit I was of the belief that it had a much more major and longer lasting affect than that. From what I recall their goal was scored fairly early, whether it was in the first 15 or not I can't remember.

Thanks for the replies so far guys. More civil than I had first anticipated they may be! haha

[Jimbokav1971]

I don't think you shoyuld take too much notice about how others play their game. If you want to reload, then reload. If you don't want to reload then good on you.

I wouldn't reload though. It's just not for me.

I have lost in club Playoffs, lost in NT EURO Qualifying Playoffs, lost loads of Cup Finals and I don't even remember the Semi's that we were beaten in. I've players players out of position, (somehow swapped GK, DL, AML and SC in 1 game and only realised at half time), often forget team-talks, (or can't be bothered), usually set OI's but forgetting/bring lazy is also not uncommon, I've played the wrong tactic in the wrong game just because I forgot to change from the previous game. I did all these things so I have to pay the price.

That's the way I see it anyway.

[podunkboy]

all teams, regardless of level, should be allowed one mulligan a season. (Well, it SHOULD be in the rulebook!)

I think as a single-player game, you can do whatever you want, but re-loading cheapens the result and in any event, you forfeit the ability to brag about that season.

(was that stern enough?)

#youboughtit #playitasyouwant

[THOG]

Kant says you should be ashamed. Mill says it's fine if it makes you happy and doesn't hurt anyone else.

[danthemanwhocan]

I as it has been said already, think it is determined by what happens in real life. It is highly unlikely that a real life manager will accidentally put their LB in Goal. If I did that I would reload as its not a true to life mistake. If its improberbale that it would happen in real life situation, user error or not then I would reload.

[Dr. Hook]

Kant says you should be ashamed. Mill says it's fine if it makes you happy and doesn't hurt anyone else.

best response ever

[fabioke]

I consider it cheating if you come boasting on the forums about your great career, but as this is a single player game you can play the game however you want.

[eastley]

I usually do not do it, will admit done it a few times.

Mainly when I am dominating the league, play bottom side, do my usual setup, best XI on the park, and I am down 5-0 in 10 minutes at home. Seems like a bug, yeah we could lose 1-0 and probably fair enough, but 5-0 down in 10 minutes seems not right to me. I got beat 9-0 by Man United once, I reloaded that one, which the next result was a 1-0 loss, I took that with no issues.

I also reload when testing tactics. i always test my tactical changes on same game, same team etc. Make a single change, play match, see statistical data for effects, reload and make more changes, so forth.

I couldn't care less how others play their game, but as noted, if you pop onto here and brag that you're the best when you have reloaded 10 games, I laugh at you..

Currently on my best season ever, played 19, won 18, other was a draw. No reloads in that either. I can't remember last time I went a season completely unbeaten, lost one last season (Man United - HATE!!)

Next match in current save, Man United (10th) vs Liverpool (1st).. IT IS ON!!

[Torminator]

To be honest, it is you call. I have very limited playing time and i play to unwind, not to be frustrated by silly losses at home against the lowest ranked team. So yeah i reload, but only in the competition, not in any of the cups. But i only do it for the first two seasons. Because in the end, reloading really sucks. After i have formed my team and molded a squad it ride it without reloading.

[RBKalle]

As usual, it's a matter of personal preferences and choices.

To be fair I don't quite get the "uproar" and the moral dilemma about people choosing to play the same match 15 times... FM is a single player game, so to me reloading is no different than using the editors (pre-game or RTE) to give your team a sugardaddy or to boost some of your players.

Even the "at least don't brag" bit is debatable IMO... I only draw the line at "do not give advice based on your own experience" point. I don't really mind if you want to boast about how you won the CL with Morecambe in 2017, as long as you don't come up with plain wrong ideas about the game, something that usually the majority of the cheaters don't do.

Sure, a few users in here have come up with colourful theories about the game (and human history), but they're a vocal minority who still can't accept FM works sometimes in mysterious ways and/or the solution to a recognized problem (ie, complacency against weaker teams) isn't as straightforward as many would like.

[kingjericho]

It's really up to you to decide if you feel comfortable with your choices. As they say, "if you need to ask if something is consider cheating, then it probably is". You just need to know what you consider to be doubtful or not. On my part I never reload, even if I have players swapped accidentally or start with the wrong tactic. What's done is done, period.

[DarthCraigus]

Some interesting responses here chaps, food for thought indeed. Funnily enough a couple of your replies have made me think twice about reloading, although I'm still split on it. Kinda wish I'd saved after the game now, even if I made a separate save to see how each course (reloading and not reloading) panned out.

I as it has been said already, think it is determined by what happens in real life. It is highly unlikely that a real life manager will accidentally put their LB in Goal. If I did that I would reload as its not a true to life mistake. If its improberbale that it would happen in real life situation, user error or not then I would reload.

That was exactly the thinking behind my decision, while I'm sure Alan Pardew sends us out without team talks judging by some of our performances over the last couple of seasons, I think it's highly unlikely this sort of thing would happen in real life, but as somebody previously mentioned - I wouldn't have reloaded had I won, which I didn't give any thought to at the time.

The only time i dislike it is when people come on here and brag about how great they are and such like when they have reloaded games for whatever reason. You did what you felt was right and i really do want you to win the title after that to see if it somewhat tars the achievement.

For me i had a save going a couple of months ago that crashed and i lost four or five games. I replayed those matches and got five points more than i originally and that ruined the save for me, stupid really but it did. It was not my fault at all, i had no option but to replay the month i had lost but it felt 'dirty' that i had benefited from it. Thats just me though.

I will likely finish my season tonight, so I will let you know. Last night would've been a definite "no" as to whether or not winning the league would be tarnished. Depending on how things pan out, who knows, I am not so sure now.

It's really up to you to decide if you feel comfortable with your choices. As they say, "if you need to ask if something is consider cheating, then it probably is". You just need to know what you consider to be doubtful or not. On my part I never reload, even if I have players swapped accidentally or start with the wrong tactic. What's done is done, period.

I think some may be misinterpreting my post somewhat, I was not looking for people to tell me I haven't cheated, because in my opinion I don't think I have, I don't mind what others think. I merely am wondering what people's boundaries are for reloading (if they have any).

Kant says you should be ashamed. Mill says it's fine if it makes you happy and doesn't hurt anyone else.

I'll admit I only tend to post sporadically on this forum so I think this has went above my head somewhat lol

[forameuss]

Anyone who gets even slightly worked up over what a faceless member of this forum does in their own save needs to look at their priorities IMO

[hugo_rune]

The only time I personally ever reload a saved game is when forced to by a crash (Hasn't happened in the current release, thankfully). I won't do it for a trivial mistake, and I certainly don't do it for what seems to be bad luck (no matter how apparently ridiculous, and no matter how crucial the specific match might be), because that would void the value of the save as a simulation experience in one simple action.

It's not really about morals/ethics for me, simply the fact that I want to be rolling with the punches in the game, not reloading my way around them. Even one reload makes that impossible for me. However, if there are people out there who do feel a need to reload for specific mistakes because they are perfectionists or whatever, it's their choice to use the Football Manager software the way they want to.

Kant says you should be ashamed. Mill says it's fine if it makes you happy and doesn't hurt anyone else.

Funny thing, I always liked Kant. Even though that sort of philosophy seems to be very unfashionable today.

[hugo_rune]

Even the "at least don't brag" bit is debatable IMO... I only draw the line at "do not give advice based on your own experience" point. I don't really mind if you want to boast about how you won the CL with Morecambe in 2017, as long as you don't come up with plain wrong ideas about the game, something that usually the majority of the cheaters don't do.

If people want to boast that they won the CL in a short timeframe with a low division team, which is certainly possible by consistently reloading unfavourable results, they need to disclaim that they did use the reload feature. Otherwise they might be giving others the wrong impression about the difficulty of this game and the level of success a player should expect in the simulation.

[Cometdude]

Personally I couldn't do it. It would feel quite hollow to win a title after doing so but that's just me. If you're happy reloading and you think the reason was valid in your mind then who is anyone else to criticise.

Enjoy the game the way you want to play it, after all, not everyone likes Marmite .

[setzel]

I love getting my ass whooped and then saving just to say what would i have done if i reloaded the game

[Äktsjon Männ]

There's nothing wrong with doing whatever you want in a single player game you own. However you are asking the question on a forum which in my opinion means that you are not entirely satisfied with the decision you made in your game. There will be no consensus on what can universally be considered a wrong thing to do in FM. If reloading makes your achievements feel hollow then don't do it. What anyone else thinks or does in their game is not important in a game like FM that is for all intents and purposes your own personal fantasy world where you make the rules for yourself.

[magicmastermind124]

What I would like to see SI add is an Ironman mode, much like in the Paradox games where the game automatically saves so there is no way you can reload your game to an earlier start.

Otherwise it's up to you how you want to play - on some saves I might reload, and on some saves I never reload. It depends how serious that game is.

[sosasoser]

Ironman mode is the most pointless thing that has ever been invented in video games. It's worse than Horse Armor DLC. It's simple enough to just not reload if you don't want to. No reason to have a buggy ironman mode saving for you every few minutes. Every minute SI would spend implementing ironman mode is a minute of completely wasted development time.

[kingjericho]

What I would like to see SI add is an Ironman mode, much like in the Paradox games where the game automatically saves so there is no way you can reload your game to an earlier start.

You can do that: set the game to autosave every day takes a long time though. I have the game set on autosave evey week so I don't have to repeat many matches in case of a crash.

[magicmastermind124]

You can do that: set the game to autosave every day takes a long time though. I have the game set on autosave evey week so I don't have to repeat many matches in case of a crash.

It's not quite the same though, you could just quit at the end of a match before the day is over.

[Äktsjon Männ]

It's not quite the same though, you could just quit at the end of a match before the day is over.

Or you could quit one minute before full time...

It's all about self restraint. No point in having a forced save function because you'd always find a way around it if you wanted to.

[fabioke]

What I would like to see SI add is an Ironman mode, much like in the Paradox games where the game automatically saves so there is no way you can reload your game to an earlier start.

Otherwise it's up to you how you want to play - on some saves I might reload, and on some saves I never reload. It depends how serious that game is.

Would love it if implemented correctly, with SSD's these days it could be done very elegantly.

[Lord Rowell]

I think the whole reloading=cheating idea is frowned upon by a vocal few here but I'm really not convinced they represent a majority.

As has already been said, its your game.

I sometimes reload for different reasons e.g. visual ME not giving me a clue what's going on which has the consequence of an unfair result, sometimes I'll replay a match to learn from my mistakes/try to solve a particular problem, or for reasons similar to those you describe yourself. In your specific case of the team talk, its highly unlikely you'd forget that in the real world, but its easy to do on a computer game. In that situation, I wouldn't be averse to just closing the program at the start of the match and just go again.

Rant coming up but I've just a few mins ago experienced the kind of scenario where I reload without hesitation.

I'm playing as Sunderland, home to Stoke in a really important game for UCL qualification. We go 2-0 up, great, tactics working spot-on. They score a screamer to make it 2-1. Game on the edge at half-time.

2nd half we're doing ok for a while. I need to make a tactical change (one shout) and a substitution. I action this.

Stoke then make not one substitution, but two. Not together, but seperately. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for mine to take effect.

They then score down that side of the pitch where I was aiming to correct the problem and as a result of my shout not implementing while the AI team was allowed to make two seperate substitutions.

Its things like this that SI need to work on because it just generates bad feeling and feels like AI cheating - I know that's not intentional or coded but, from my perspective, that is what has happened.

Rant over... sorry.

[DarthCraigus]

There's nothing wrong with doing whatever you want in a single player game you own. However you are asking the question on a forum which in my opinion means that you are not entirely satisfied with the decision you made in your game. There will be no consensus on what can universally be considered a wrong thing to do in FM. If reloading makes your achievements feel hollow then don't do it. What anyone else thinks or does in their game is not important in a game like FM that is for all intents and purposes your own personal fantasy world where you make the rules for yourself.

No offence meant to you or anybody else but I still think some are maybe misunderstanding the purpose of me creating this topic. I am perfectly happy with my decision to reload, and I wasn't (and am not) looking for somebody to tell me it's alright. What I wanted to do was get a discussion going on what people's own personal boundaries are on saving/reloading the game. I have seen many on this forum, and indeed in this topic, who would not do it under any circumstances whatsoever, some who do it frequently and enjoy it. I agree with the whole idea of "it's your game, play it as you see fit" but I'm just looking for an idea of where other people draw that line. I don't want anybody to justify what I've done I just want to see people's arguments for and against.

[brawla123]

From the few times I have forgotten my pre-game team talk have also felt that my team played poorly in the first half. It's hard to say whether this is actually because of not giving a team talk because that West Brom away match for you was always going to be tough. I admit in the past I have replayed matches but never again because in my eyes, it makes everything that happened before a bit pointless. Especially if you're doing this when the season is almost over and you really need the points.

[Smurf]

If I'm winning 5-0 against a rival team I will reload.

I cheat.

[DarthCraigus]

Well for the record I have loaded up FM and replayed the WBA game. A great first half performance saw me on my way to a 2-1 lead. I followed this up with 4-1 thumping of Spurs at Stamford Bridge.

The gap between Chelsea and Man City was 5 points and saw me with a game in hand going into the penultimate game of the season away to Fulham. Where I saw my team comfortably beaten 2-0 meaning I can't win the league. I must be honest, I am actually kind of pleased in a way.

I still am happy with my decision to replay the WBA game because in some ways I feel vindicated in doing so. I kept everything the same. The same team & subs, the same tactics, roles, setup, opposition instructions - Every single thing. The single difference was giving them the team talk beforehand and it produced what I was expecting the first time around. Having said that I do feel it was cheapened as I did wait and see how the match panned out. If such a thing happens again I will still quit out to reload, only I will do so right away as soon as the match has started without giving it time to get going.

Interesting though, I didn't expect to feel that way (and probably wouldn't have) had I not read some of your opinions in here.

[Kain]

I never save and reload, no matter what happens. Not even after both of my keepers got injured and I had to use a greyed player in goal for the last 6 matches of the season. Or after I started a match with a defender in goal by accident and didn't notice until I was 2-0 down.

I wouldn't judge anyone else for doing so on their own one-player save, but I wouldn't feel right doing it myself.

[wazza]

I never save and reload either apart from instances of acts of god eg: last Saturday I managed against the odds to get a 1-1 draw with Celtic in my relegation battle, before I saved there was a power cut caused by a thunderstorm. I reloaded and replayed under instant result until I got back the 1-1 scoreline to make it as realistic as poss

[daylight]

It will spoil your save, 3 or 4 seasons from now when you could be winning trophies you will think back to that time you 'cheated', don't do it, just take it on the chin and move on.

The only time I would say it is okay to reload an old save is if your PC crashes and when you restart you don't get the same outcome, that goes for games you lost before but then won, try to keep it to how the game played out the first time.

[realtimshady]

I personally don't like to reload, simply because I don't want to spend the time going through a match I've already played. I don't play very quickly or as frequently as I'd like, and tend to watch my matches on comprehensive. If I want to get to the future, I can't afford to repeat a match.

However, were I open to reloading, I would make a distinction between tactical errors and interface errors. If I lose a match because I make a tactical error, I'd accept the loss and try to learn from it. If I lost a match because I clicked the wrong button, I'd reload. If what I choose to do is wrong, that's entirely on me. If I'm unable to do what I choose because the interface/game gets in my way, that's not entirely on me.

[M.U.F.C....TSVR]

Not a fan tbh, its cheating in 1 sense.

But I did it once, this FM, because of 1 game. In a 3 way title battle I went away to Man City. I lost 1-0. They had 6 shots - 3 on target. Not 1 CCC.

Me? 2 CCC's in the 1st half and in the 2nd, we went on attack - 4 CCC's - 6 in total. There was a huge goalmouth scramble toward the end, a 4 yard deflected miss onto a post and I was enraged. Had to go and walk the dog over the park, blast the ball about and chill for 20. I re-loaded and we won, 2-3. It was a fair reflection of the play, unlike the scripted tripe in the other game.

I do feel as though I cheated, but too much of the 1st game was me questioning if FM is scripted because a player as in form as RVP can't find the net. Is it Joe Harts head and shoulders smelling blonde fluff? Doubt it.

That essay said, I do regret it. If it does happen again I'll just take it and move on.

[Soccer]

I personally don't reload matches, whatever the results. Just leave it and move on to the next match.

The only circumstances which I will reload is when the computer crashes while I was in a match.

[Loki679]

Rant coming up but I've just a few mins ago experienced the kind of scenario where I reload without hesitation.

I'm playing as Sunderland, home to Stoke in a really important game for UCL qualification. We go 2-0 up, great, tactics working spot-on. They score a screamer to make it 2-1. Game on the edge at half-time.

2nd half we're doing ok for a while. I need to make a tactical change (one shout) and a substitution. I action this.

Stoke then make not one substitution, but two. Not together, but seperately. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for mine to take effect.

They then score down that side of the pitch where I was aiming to correct the problem and as a result of my shout not implementing while the AI team was allowed to make two seperate substitutions.

Its things like this that SI need to work on because it just generates bad feeling and feels like AI cheating - I know that's not intentional or coded but, from my perspective, that is what has happened.

Rant over... sorry.

So if they hadn't scored and you'd gone on to win the game you would still have reloaded, right? Because the subs took too long, that's the reason, right? Not because you lost. Because the subs took too long.

[bluesjunior]

You have only lost one game all season and drawn two. You have won the PL with six matches left to play. You are the PL top scorers by 3gls and the tightest defence by a mile with only 14gls against. Your morale is tip top. You watch the vast majority of your matches in full, your tactic is sound and your understanding of the game after years of play is very knowledgeable. You are playing your arch rivals in the semi final of the FA cup and you have beaten them 7 times and drawn once with them over 3 seasons. You pre match presscon goes great, your absolute best 11 are all 100% fit, your team talk and individual talks are first rate leaving you with a solid wall of motivated green from top to bottom. You press go to match and your team which you watch all the time just aren't playing the way they should be. At half time you are losing 3-0 and while checking out the stats, analysis of what's going wrong see that four players are playing out of position and the player instructions are from a tactic I deleted months ago. What do you do, I exited and replayed it checking everything was correct that time and won 3-1. If that's cheating so be it. They say the ME doesn't cheat but stuff like that makes me wonder sometimes.

[Kenco]

You have only lost one game all season and drawn two. You have won the PL with six matches left to play. You are the PL top scorers by 3gls and the tightest defence by a mile with only 14gls against. Your morale is tip top. You watch the vast majority of your matches in full, your tactic is sound and your understanding of the game after years of play is very knowledgeable. You are playing your arch rivals in the semi final of the FA cup and you have beaten them 7 times and drawn once with them over 3 seasons. You pre match presscon goes great, your absolute best 11 are all 100% fit, your team talk and individual talks are first rate leaving you with a solid wall of motivated green from top to bottom. You press go to match and your team which you watch all the time just aren't playing the way they should be. At half time you are losing 3-0 and while checking out the stats, analysis of what's going wrong see that four players are playing out of position and the player instructions are from a tactic I deleted months ago. What do you do, I exited and replayed it checking everything was correct that time and won 3-1. If that's cheating so be it. They say the ME doesn't cheat but stuff like that makes me wonder sometimes.

If you're as good as you say then you simply make changes at half-time to turn around the 3-0 deficit.

[BiggusD]

I have sometimes reloaded for various reasons.

1. Ragequit. In good form, not lost in ages and having played well, players working hard and being decisive. Then, out of the blue, with no warning signs, no reasoning, the entire team has the worst day in the history of football. They don't run but walk, they hesitate for ages and then clear the ball away in panic, they make comical mistakes, almost 100% failure rate at whatever they are trying to do and are barely recognizable to me. Nice desktop...

- Reload. Do the exact same moves I did before the previous attempt. Everything normal.

* On rare occasions, they repeat the bad match. Then I move on, because it was something I did and not the RNG going crazy.

2. Bugs. The most recent one was one Brazilian player I bought not being eligible to play because he had moved clubs in Brazil in the current Brazilian season (which in Europe is the previous season in the summer window).

- I had to reload an older backup save.

* I already knew about the bug but forgot about it since I stopped playing around April and came back to it in July.

3. Quirkbonanza. FM has always had its fair share of stupid stuff happening on the pitch. Ballistic rocket throw-ins, goalkeeper clearing the ball into his own net with nobody nearby (instead of kicking it out), keeper watching the ball roll into the net, throw-in directly to opponent for no apparent reason, all 8 defenders compressing into a phone-box sized area with an opponent in the middle etc etc. From time to time, all of the current iteration's quirks show up in the same match.

- The most recent example was me winning, but there were so many idiotic things happening that I was just eyerolling anyway. I reloaded and played this match two or three times until the quirks went away and I think the result that time was a draw. Moved on.

[Cougar2010]

2. Bugs. The most recent one was one Brazilian player I bought not being eligible to play because he had moved clubs in Brazil in the current Brazilian season (which in Europe is the previous season in the summer window).

- I had to reload an older backup save.

* I already knew about the bug but forgot about it since I stopped playing around April and came back to it in July.

How is that a bug?

[CityAndColour]

So if they hadn't scored and you'd gone on to win the game you would still have reloaded, right? Because the subs took too long, that's the reason, right? Not because you lost. Because the subs took too long.

Presumably because he felt the goal exploited an area he had tried to rectify with his tactical changes.

[CityAndColour]

How is that a bug?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_Two