House rules as a manager and absolutes.

[Lawlore]

So, I'm free thinking here, and one of the areas that I think FM doesn't do a great job of is letting me be the manager. It lets me manage, but it doesn't let me inject my personality, as the manager, into the way in which the team is run. Yes, it allows me to make decisions on what I do and don't delegate, and it allows me to decide on punishments when they occur. But that is true of me and every other manager playing the game.

In a previous thread, some time ago now, I pointed out that one of my biggest bugbears with the series was being told "there isn't a suitable reason to hold a team meeting". This may well be true, but last I checked, I'm the manager. If I want to hold a team meeting, I damned well will, and who the hell are you to stop me? Yes, it may be stupid and pointless and result in everyone snoring through it, but I'm in charge, and that's what we're doing.

And really, this is an extension of that same feeling- the artificial limits in the game that prevent me from managing the team- for better or worse- the way that I want to.

Which brings me back to the topic title. As manager of the team, if I want to set an absolute on something, make something a punishable offence, and set up essentially "house rules" for how the team should play, that's currently not possible. This could be, for example, banning backpasses to the keeper, or direct shots from free kicks, or being caught offside, or any other regular in-match occurrence that I want to encourage/prevent, no matter how much it upsets the team or how bonkers it may sound from the outside. As the manager of the team, that's my prerogative, and there could be good reason for it- maybe all of our players suck at taking free kicks, or maybe I want to limit how much our doofus keeper has the ball at his feet, or try and force a player to learn that being offside is a bad thing. What punishment? Talking to? Minor fines? Start the next game as a sub? Negative incentive is still incentive, and over time, it should train behaviours out of players, much as they may hate me in the process of it happening.

And while my thinking here is that this would predominantly affect lower leagues and semi-pro players, I mean, Paolo Di Canio, Premier League manager did happen.

[FrazT]

I dont see much wrong with this in theory- what I am not sure of are the coding issues that implementation may cause

[phnompenhandy]

3 hours ago, FrazT said:

I dont see much wrong with this in theory- what I am not sure of are the coding issues that implementation may cause

Sounds to me like the way role-playing games get more immersive, allowing you to freely explore more of the environment as time goes on. FM should become more like that but as you say, it does require a heck of a lot of coding.

[Peljam]

Maybe it could be done a bit like the team philosophies? Much like the board can give you negative/positive feedback for not meeting/meeting the agreed philosophies maybe you could have similar ones for players:

• Would prefer players to stay onside
• Would prefer players to play out from the back
• Would prefer players to shoot less often
• Etc.

Then over time you get feedback over which players are meeting this. If your star striker is straying offside a lot you then get the option to talk to him specifically about it. Or if enough players are getting caught offside you have a team meeting about it.

Could be horrible to code. But I like the idea of being able to do that.  I want my players to hoof it forwards. I'd love to be able to to have that as a team ethos/rule as well as a tactic. So I can punish/praise appropriately but also specifically.