My wife knows more about FML than FM2011 managers.

.... and apart from knowing I have an unhealthy addiction to it (albeit it one that isn't ruining my liver), and the fact I am Spartacus in several different places, she knows nothing. So, poor show brown cow really, regarding FM2011 gamers.

A quote from Wes on the main forum (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/260542-website-update- #13) 'Just a thought and maybe a bit off topic but have you (SI) ever advertised on the main FM forums? Not so much an ad but a post in the FM subscriber section of what FML is ,what it can offer, probably a bit of a hijack but your playing for the same team, so why not? :D
Cant beleive more FM hardcore players havent come over to FML, I never liked the idea until i accidently stumbled across some info lurking aroung the FM sub forum (havent really touched FM in 3 years of FML).'

Just with this in mind. I was having a very rare wander around the FM forums and posted in this one: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/260566-Game-involving-FM-community?p=6649540#post6649540
Effectively this guy on FM2011 wanted more of a community experience. Where better than FML, I thought, so posted and was ignored- I supect they have never heard of FML and thought I was a random freak.

The amount of people that come from FM20xx to FML and say they love it are, in my anecdotal experience, quite a high %. Quite why SI don't tap into that is beyond me. I bet loads of people on FML still have a FM2011 box/Steam game. So the demand for FM20xx doesn't leave.

This isn't a moan, this is a positive 'JUST DO IT' message. After a few months of positive additions to Valderrama we are slipping again. We regularly have over 100 online. The chat rooms are often buzzing with jibber. But from 700+ down to 665 again.

When so many potential customers are on your doorstep, you would be mad to ignore them. Then again, there is an element of ignoring their own customers views, suggestions and ideas on the forums. Maybe they are Mick McMad of Madville after all!

It's SI's game. Its understandable they want to retain control, but there are a lot of people willing to help. If there is a shortage of staff, and things can be done by managers keen to pitch in to enhance the game, harness them.

But first of all... make sure all FM2011 managers get the opportunity to buy both products !



All the people I have interacted with at SI have been diamonds. They all appear to be hard workers and have improving the game as a priority. Quite why customer communications have arrived at this position is bemusing ...   :-(



1.7 Huzzaarr... *ponders*

Obviously I have no inside information but the last time I remember SI being this quiet on the forums I seem to feel that it was just before an Upgrade (I reflected at the time that they must need to steel themselves for the abuse they get post upgrade, and the work on bugs that may appear).

I looked last week and Bertie hadn't posted for a couple of weeks, Paul once in a week or so, Rb hadn't been that active and Ov hadn't posted since the end of Jan. No idea where Duffy has gone, PaulC was manning the barracades on the ME thread and Ben was manfully dealing with the Bugs thread. All in all, forum skeleton staffing.

As posted before, I want them more active, but have wondered whether this is really a sign of 1.7 being close. SI have gone all The Third Man on us over recent months, but is this the rest before the chaos?

Where so many good suggestions historically came from the forums, and ideas built upon, too many of the threads have recently been created by moany tools with no concept of 'balance'. I'm hoping SI come back strong after this unnanounced break- because if they don't, the forums lose their main purpose. Creation.

The TV Lounge is a couch potato

The TV Lounge. Does anyone use it?

It just seems to be a ‘chat’ room that shows clips of goals that you generally don't care to associate any time to. A room that only ever seems to be noticeably used by random spammers/spanners. Like re-runs of WWF, whoever watches the goals are either unstable, bored, in denial, desperate or a combination of all 4.

I think it could VERY simply be enhanced if there were a button to stop the goal clips being shown in the TV Lounge so you could just see the current scores. Sometimes I don’t really want to gatecrash a game (or let the other manager know I care!) so seeing the vide-printer style scores appear is handy. This change has been acknowledged in Beta, logged as a potential future change, but that was several months, and 2 upgrades, ago

At the moment I get a few seconds to try and locate the the scores I want... and then the goal clips kick in. It just flaunts itself like a flasher jumping out on you at a tube station entrance. I'm in trauma. Cue re-runs of men in bikinis pretending to fight each other….. I can’t change screen quick enough. The therapist's bills are on the way to you SI !

Emoticon-fest... imagine...

This was suggested again in a beta thread a short time ago, but originates as far back (to my knowledge) to several people when the ideas for RP use were flying around (remember RP's.... RIP etc.... wasted opportunity)

I love the idea. More to personalise the game can only be a positive step- some won't care or use it, but many will. Add in your 'own' homepage as well, perhaps. Add more design to the stadium, goal celebrations, even dug-outs if need be.

Some concerns were on the numbnuts abusing it and creating abusive or crude emoticons but, as ever, I'm sure the rules could apply to this as they do to the written word.

I guess the reality is the time to code such an addition -v- coding the current plans. I suspect that this might be either a long term or never term idea whilst the SI team is thin on the ground with resources.

Control, Control and CON-bloody-TROL

I've been playing FML for over 2 years now. Zola for a year and Valderrama for a year (along with ongoing accounts Miller a year and Nunez for a month). I think any game that keeps the attention of anyone for that length of time is worth a solid regard, huge respect and an acknowledgement that it has grasped the reason why we all love football.... and still follow various teams even if they lose week after week- I say this as an Ipswich fan...

Despite all this time, I would never claim to be any kind of tactical wizard on FML (many would be nodding at this point if they were reading), but in real life I feel like I have a good grasp on tactics. So, I work on gut feeling and try to apply real world tactics to the game (apart from employing the obvious contender of corner banging, but never played 4-6-0 *shows badge of honour*). This works sometimes, and sometimes not. I appreciate football has large elements of luck and 'the unknown', that is what makes it so emotive. Players have personalities and can be utter tools but have uses (Barton), hair-pullingly inconsistant (Torres), can implode on themselves (Rooney), be petulant like a child (Balotelli), and as stupid as a bucket-full of shrimps (Bramble) but the manager tends to know what is wrong, despite not always being able to deal with it.

Herein lies the problem.

Are my playing being inept morons because of the tactics/shouts/morale/etc... or is it just because they, or I (or both) are inept morons. How do I know? Not a Scooby. I suppose it could be me. Entirely plausible. I know it must be sometimes- be it through a lack of time prepping or looking at things- but often I am in the dark. I like to be to blame for winning. Human nature is as it is when I lose and expect it must be the game! :p

Beta has some new features being tested that give a little more clue, but I really feel this needs to be ramped up. I'm not suggesting people get nursed through management.... let people find out themselves. But at least give them the opportunity. Signpost huge errors. Player feedback to say why they are hacked off. More opportunities to interact with players. Some feeling of control.

Many think they might be tactical geniuses (whilst still playing at 2.5 speed, don't look much at stats, use the 'power formation' of the moment, never change home and away tactics and allow silly things like letting their 5ft6 winger mark the best jumper in the opposition), and some of them will always moan. They know football. They live it. After all, they watch it every week, how could they not...  In offering additional signposts FML might actually be doing society a service in proving to these internet warriors that they are sometimes/often wrong.

I try not to blame the ME. It is what it is- the best out there. Not perfect, never will be perfect, but a work of art that is as close to being real as anything in the world has at the moment. As ever though, the FEELING of control is king... and that control needs to be easily accessible, not at the end of a 50 page thesis on stats. I want to make a decision and to know that it had an effect- be it positive or negative -or- whether I win because of it or not. If this brings a reduction to the moans about it being the ME's fault, more the better!

Some work/analysis= Yes.
Reams of analysis= Not casual friendly or, in the main, Hardcore friendly.

Lag Update

Still there/here. Still a pain in the kecks. Jeez, I have a ZX Spectrum in the loft somewhere.... I might go retreive it to compare. 'The Double' used to take 120 minutes to play a 90 minute game weekend.... its not quite that bad, but seems worse due to expectation.

I'm used to it (even though I hate it and it makes me walk away from the PC) but when I get a new user ask why things are going so slow trying to explain sounds so lame.

These types of forum threads are becoming way too frequent:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/256868-Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggg!

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/256276-Disgusting-LAG

.... I know SI are looking into it, and I'm sure its not simple, but the awesome increase in managers recently could be reversed by this lag.

No idea what this illustrates but it said 'lag' and has pretty patchwork patterns :p