This game should come with a health warning

[AlexJames]

Every football season I play Fantasy Premier League, often spending way too much time considering transfers and consuming fantasy football related articles in my pursuit of winning my mini-leagues. Last season I listened to an interesting podcast about how fantasy football can effect - both positively and negatively – a person’s mental health, particularly those who take it fairly seriously like myself.

I’m sure there are those that play who can relate to how a poor Captain choice, or transferring out Sergio Aguero just before back-to-back hattricks can put someone in a bad mood for days afterwards, particularly after so much prior planning and time spent researching. Conversely, a Captain haul and that all-important green arrow can leave you on cloud nine, and lead you into the next round of fixtures with renewed hope and expectations.

I think the same absolutely applies for Football Manager.

Case in point, just the other night I was having a quiet evening on the couch with my wife, when I found myself irrationally snapping at her when she asked me a perfectly innocuous question (along the lines of “what time would you like dinner, dear?”).

The reason for this outburst? My FM 2019 team were a goal down (a 25-yard screamer from a player with long shots 5, finishing 6) playing against 10 men, who were passing the ball around like Barcelona circa 2010 and whose midfielder with tackling 3, strength 6, work rate 6 was absolutely bossing my midfield. The game finished 0-1 and naturally I was in a bad mood for the rest of the evening, barely speaking to my poor wife and too ashamed to admit the true reason for my anger.

This in turn led to me proceeding to the next game in the hope of a victory to improve my mood (we’ve all been there, right?). Fortunately my team won 1-0 - thanks to a lucky penalty - and all was (relatively) okay in the world again.

I watch every match full highlights, so it generally take me around 2hrs to get through a game. Watching games in this manner really emphasizes some of the issues within the Match Engine, and definitely leads to much of my frustration: Throw-ins direct to the opposition, continuous crosses into shins (and the strange dynamics of these deflections which often results in giving possession back to the opposition to counter), long shot goals, crazy slide challenges, players seemingly not following selected instructions (“Lurk Near Post” does NOT mean “Come Short”) etc. etc. I definitely find myself trying hard to keep my emotions in check when playing in the company of my wife, for fear of looking like a complete lunatic.

That being said, after 6 real months and 2.5 FM seasons I’m still playing my first FM2019 save and (mostly) enjoying the game, so there is definitely more good than bad about this edition. After regular years of FM addiction I stopped playing after FM2016 (I still have recollections of literally punching my bed - a particular low - in frustration at that version). Fortunately I am a stable enough adult to not let my Football Manager feelings too significantly effect my day-to-day life (with the odd rare exception, as above, of course), however it's also possible that there are others that take this game even more seriously than I do, and who perhaps do allow this game to affect their personal lives. The subject of this post was intended as tongue-in-cheek, but perhaps it's a conversation worth having.

 

 

 

 

[Ciderarmy]

I feel your pain,

I once nearly lost my job as I went through a ten game run where I couldn't win for toffee and I was getting so frustrated trying to find a way somehow of getting that win.

With the clock ticking and the time for work fast approaching I got the win and then the dreaded feeling we all have can't stop playing now we all know what happens close the laptop after a win and when you come back you don't recognise your players so I decided no can't go to work so spent the next 2 days off work trying to figure out tactics after tactics!!!!

Was it worth it YES as we won our last 4 games and stayed up

Sometimes I feel you need to be a brace man opening the world of FM 

[CFuller]

If FM regularly makes you feel so stressed that it has a detrimental effect on relationships with your loved ones... maybe you should take a break from FM. Whether it's for a few days, a week, a few weeks, or even longer, take a break and do something that doesn't stress you out.

Now, I'm not exactly a Buddhist monk myself when it comes to FM. When I get annoyed at the game, though, it's the computer peripherals - mice, especially - that are more likely to suffer than my family. Whenever I come out of a bad FM session, I take 5-10 minutes to get it out my system, and then I get on with the rest of my day as if nothing's happened.

There was one time very recently, though, when things got very dark between FM and me. I had just lost my grandad, and I saw the game as something to just take my mind off things...

...until my Shrewsbury team hit a rotten run of form consisting of four (or was it five?) straight defeats. The final game of that run was a 3-1 home defeat to Charlton, and after Charlton scored their third goal from distance, I picked up my keyboard and smashed it against my desk, dislodging five keys. I managed to place them back into the keyboard and get it all working again, though I spent the best part of an hour looking under my desk for that final missing key.

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have got back into the game so soon after my grandad's death. The Charlton anger incident (and another involving Oxford, which I won't go into here) affected my enjoyment of the Shrewsbury save so much that I knocked it on the head about a month later.

I then took about a fortnight out of FM before starting a new save once I was a lot happier in my life. It's no exaggeration to say that the break has done me a world of good. If I'd just kept ploughing on, I would probably have burnt myself out completely and lost all my desire to play FM19.

[santy001]

Games have the ability to cause burn out, and can no longer be enjoyable so taking a break is always best.

However, you have to be very careful about projecting your own behaviour in life onto FM, or any game, for that matter. In fact that applies pretty much across the spectrum of things in life. The reality is in these situations its not the game, or a game, that needs a health warning. Rather that people need to seek professional help, or at the very least invest some time in learning how to control it.

[AlexJames]

Agreed. I'd never really considered the mental health impact of fantasy football prior to hearing the aforementioned podcast - it was enlightening to hear from those who play "professionally"  - i.e. regular working professionals that run websites/ blogs etc. on fantasy football - that a bad gameweek can significantly impact their own week on a personal level. It got me thinking about the possible health impacts video games such as FM may have on people. Fortunately I consider myself a fairly well-balanced individual and fully understand that fact that FM is "just a game" - and for the most part am capable of separating myself from the game and my personal life - but I am conscious of the fact there could be others who are similarly - and quite possibly more seriously - affected by the game.

[Svenc]

Can't Claim that I relate, because one-off Matches mean Zero (in particular if settled by a Long shot). They should in your Fantasy Football "Analysis" too. It's just noise. Anybody actually "analysing" Football (and Players) Always Looks at the longer term, and goes a bit deeper tahn but results (or Goals, assists, or anything -- actually anybody in Analytics argues tables and results LIE -- this includes companies providing Information to customers on the betting markets, including bookmakers). In other words, I don't go crazy over losses/wins, as in the Long-term I know I will perform. I also know it's just  a game, really. edit: I just realized you are the same Player who has opened the  thread About the headers being won by your Player. You may or may not be on to something, but I think you are Looking at Things in a far too simplistic way (and don't acknowledge any of the Header completion Performance data the game provides when making your judgement)… but then if you'd dig deeper, Maybe the random blips would cause even more Frustration.  

What both the game as well as Fantasy Football share in common is also another interesting aspect though:  

http://www.fantasyfutopia.com/common-cognitive-biases-in-daily-fantasy-football/

 

Take care, man!

[ajt]

Can't say I get particularly bothered by winning or losing. Most of my enjoyment comes from improving players & my club. But I certainly put in many hours each year. Maybe an unhealthy amount

If you catch yourself getting genuinely angry because of a game (I had this problem with World of Warcraft) then I suggest taking a break at least temporarily.

 

[RBKalle]

1) I feel the OP's pain (and many mice, keyboards, T-shirts and even walls have felt my senseless FM-induced rage)

2) Watching full matches is self-punishment and should be avoided at all costs... Settle for Key and, while it'll still be infuriating at times (actually, I suspect even more often), it'll at least be a shorter ordeal

3) Time to take a long break from FM if it's affecting your life

4) As infuriating as FM and other games can be, maybe there's something more at play with the foul mood. Games can be triggering factors...

[Domathon]

playing fm19 is just rock paper scissors you win loose or draw. learning from results and past matches is irrelevant the game code is random.

[CFuller]

Football Manager - like football - is far more sophisticated (and naturally far more random) than rock, paper, scissors.

Comments like yours in a discussion of this nature are just not helpful at all.

[santy001]

48 minutes ago, Domathon said:

playing fm19 is just rock paper scissors you win loose or draw. learning from results and past matches is irrelevant the game code is random.

I'd always suggest only posting if you've got something worthwhile contributing.

Surely there's better things to do with your time than just periodically popping up and posting conspiracy theories.

[warlock]

2 hours ago, Domathon said:

playing fm19 is just rock paper scissors you win loose or draw. learning from results and past matches is irrelevant the game code is random.

A short post, yet so wrong in so many ways.

[sporadicsmiles]

As others have said, if you are starting to get irrationally angry and not enjoying it, just stop playing for a while. I am currently on a short hiatus from the game, because I was not enjoying myself so much (not so much an anger issue, just a temporary malaise). I am taking the time to explore and play other games, and it is nice. If FM is affecting your life, really put it down for a while.

[Svenc]

If this game wouldn't cause some Frustration every once in a while, it was  a total failure at what it's simulating. In particular in the short to mid-term, which includes fully Seasons, btw. Football is a ton more random than People give it credit for. (which is what bookmakers on the betting market exploit as well). That said, the game is significantly less random than Football. And some have "killed" a ton of the randomness almost accross the shop. This is a Sports where despite dozens of attacks each match, the pitifully low score is eventually settled in mere seconds of 90 minutes. Even somebody bad at Maths in School may at least roughly understand the fallout of this. Actually, it's arguably one of the key reasons why it's this popular, as on any given day, anything can happen; and even over streaks, much goes still.  

Also a reason why I'd urged some People I considered to have specific mental traits (and be it an obssession with perfecting Things -- to perhaps "unrealistic" Degrees) to consider stop playing.

[99]

I have to say in all honesty that when I've read the title, I thought it would be a joke. On the lines of, I'm so addicted that I even forgot to eat or to have a bath or something like that.

Wasn't expecting it to affect the relationship with your loved one, for real. I won't pretend I have some smart advice to you, I can only tell you that as soon as I would recognize those symptoms, I would stop right away. That's hurtful to you and to others. F*ck the game and everything else, real relationships are what matter!

[DownTheFrank]

Never punched a bed, the worst i do is clap very loudly behind my computer screen when my team completes an unlikely comeback 

[Schotsmannetje]

I once banged my desk so hard that my monitor fell off. That was the end of FM for a few weeks for me. 

[Hovis Dexter]

There’s a reason that for some people the game is known as the divorce maker. Don’t let it happen to you.

[Lucas]

I got angry at a game of Fifa (I think it was) once back in 2006, turned on my chair and sent a pint of Coca Cola flying all over the laptop. 

That was the end of my Hearts save on FM07, and my laptop