Why Fifa Manager is not an entertaining exerience

I play Fifa Manager since it was called Total Club Manager. Back then, it was an entertaining experience, adictive enough so easily could blow away your personal life. The reason for that was the very intense 3D play, the triumph or sorrow you paid for a good or bad managing of your club. The 3D simulation - though not as spectacular as it is today - provided instead an accurate representation of your team, players and tactics in that moment, rewarding your exact activity as a manager.

Many hours (and with coming iterations even more) I spent playing this game, yieling at the players inside my monitor as if they were real and I was actually their manager. Childish enough for those who never played TCM but quite a normal experience for those who did play it. It was immersive and fun.

Not the case unfortunately since name changed. Maybe Fifa Manager 07 (as the first Fifa Manager) was a bit like TCM and still preserved some of the pleasant features of TCM games but since year by year something was lost. The very boring games that were 09, 10 and 11, with only "click and hit next" gameplay only managed to raise the frustration due to huge amount of bugs and game`s inconsistencies.

Biggest problem of this game is not the lack of features (wow, in fact we have quite an impresive amount of features) or the bad 3D engine (in fact present engine could simulate quite well the matches). Not even the bugs, big or small are not the real problem this game has. The fact that this game (and please aknowledge, this is a GAME) has no purpose, no rewards to offer, no way to win IT is its biggest flaw. From this, every new feature introduced, every change in its mechanics have a single finality: flawed or bugged feature.

And so we can observe, year after year how the game`s design has in fact no design, how new features don`t interact inside the game, how different "systems" function independent and don`t influence other "systems" so training has no influence on morale, tactics don`t influence the 3D, club facilities don`t influence player development, club finances don`t influence club staff, etc. Well, yes, they do influence each other in fact, in a shallow manner and in an illogical and unintuitive way.

I stated years ago that this game needs a fresh start, a new design, from clear grounds and present features and "systems" should be implemented ONLY on this new design`s rules. Everything should have well thought and balanced effects, everything should have positive and negative sides, "everything" should be impossible to achieve. Choices should matter, should heavily impact the game and the manager should collect his rewards: good or bad.

As things stand now, some of us, who still love this game and believe in it, trick ourselves into thinking "if I do this something should happen". Except it don`t and so we start looking for "reasons" for this. We force ourselves to believe there IS a reason, like "for that thing to happen, something else must be done" and we look "what" that "something else" is. The bad news is there is no "something else". In fact, there is no "something" and this is because the game is not designed in this way. The game is designed (actually is poorly designed) to be "blindly" played. There is no reason in playing the game in a specific way. Game won`t reward you for this. There is no good or bad way to play it (and this in itself is a good point) but the way to play it "click and hit next (and this is the worst point of this game). You`ll win eventually, no matter what. Only way to find this game interesting and fun, to make it challanging is to personally set yourself some objectives. Is as much cheating as "trainers" are but in the different direction. You don`t cheat the game but the game cheats you intead. What is the outcome? I play this game less and less, only to found is even worse than last time.

Do Bright Future really understand that a game must provide  in-game satisfaction? I really can`t answer this question but Fifa Manager 13 (as well as previous Fifa Manager titles) proves they don`t and that they probably don`t even care.

Open letter to Soeren, Fifa Manager forum`s administrator

Hello,

I`m new to this comunity but quite sorry to say, this forum lives to its reputation: freedom of speech is only partly free.

Now to the subject: yes, I believe this bann commes with no reason: I am not Paul, I`m Sorin. Paul is my friend and he is the one who get me into this game. So for that one, EA owe Paul one more customer. But when Paul was banned, I did my own account, in my own personal name. I believe this is not forbiden, isn`t it?

Now, if you would really like to bann  user after user, know this: Our internet connection is from the same source, as we are neighbours. Don`t use that "identical IP" argument as it`s not working. For the argument sake, other possibilities could be that we write from an internet cafe, or from work. And yes, sometimes I even log from Paul`s appartment. Is it forbiden? So, considering all your rules, this account, my account is legit in every way. Please visit my home and I can prove it by offering you a cup of coffee. So, in the name of your set of rules, un-bann my account!

If still, the reasons for my banning are not double account (as it`s not the case) but some oppinions of my own, sometimes harsh in their way, at least be fair, and tell me exactly this. Anyway, this should be a personal conversation so no one could even know, right?

P.S. Now about Paul account, user name paultcm2004 witch advocate seems suddenly I became.

Of all he told me, of all I read, of all I know and we two share pretty much everything about Fifa Manager game, he didn`t broke any of this forum rules. Yes, his critics were extreme and his position towards the developers harsh. But sorry to say, also true. I truly believe  all his comments have at least a positive side if not entirely positive. If only devs would show up in this forum, those kind of extreme oppinions would surely be more rare. So, at least for the sake of corectness, send an email to Paul and explain the very reasons for his banning:

eperdos@yahoo.com

Thank you!