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I posted these messages already somewhere else on the board, but it seems that it’s located in an unvisited corner.
Now, I combined my thoughts together and corrected them a little as well.
I’m a usability engineer and while I didn’t play Football Manager 2008 a lot yet but I already noticed a few usability problems:
Maybe I have some critique on the game, but I can’t help it, it’s my profession.
But that doesn’t mean that I do not adore the game. I can describe myself as an addicted one.
And lots of things are really worked out very smart.
PROCESS TIMES
The overall processing times are still too long. Why not processing more in background while doing a match (or while the user is doing ‘nothing’), this could shorten the problem. Compared to FM2007 (or older version) it is already improved, still I feel it can improved?
NAG SCREENS
The annoying ‘Are you sure to do this or that’ windows where you have to select ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
It’s just a weak design and I’ll explain you why:
•The system is controlling us, I want to control the system
•Mostly I don’t make many click-mistakes, I surely wanted to send that scout to Brazil.
•People will mostly answer the same thing: ‘yes’. If the answer is 90% of the times the same, then remove the question.
•Currently, when I make a mistake, I can undo it (like it should) if I want to. So why still using those nag screens? I can correct the problem by myself in the rare occasion that I was mistaken.
•Do you like a frigirator (or a wife :p) that’s asking if I really want that beer? I don’t. I just want that beer.
It would speed up the interaction and the use of the game.
People will feel less stupid and will experience more control which is resulting in a higher motivation to go on gaming.
NO MATCH, JUST RESULTS
I’m still wondering why I have to see an entire match. Some players (like me) are just satisfied with the results (sure for the unimportant games). This would fasten up the game a lot.
Even with commentary only, the match will take minimum 3 minutes at least.
By instance, I’m not interested in watching entire friendly matches and I play rather a lot of them (sometimes 20 per season).
Substitutions and team talks can be arranged by your assistant-manager.
Also, it should be an option, for the big games I like to view the match as well.
Thus you’re not forced to have a result only.
SCOUTING
Scouting is still not fun. Countless people are waiting for the FM Genie Scout 2008. Learn something about that program. Analyse why it is working. And no Genie is not necessarily cheating.
I wish I had an option where I could instruct my scouts to find a better (or similar) player for any given position.
I would send them out into the country, continent or world and after a while I would receive a list of the desired players.
The accuracy of this list should be related to the skills of the scouts.
The accuracy should increase when one player is being scouted more by the same or (better) more scouts.
Now I have a workable list, I can closely examine the list and buy the desired star.
I know that currently the scouted player is compared with the best player in my team on that specific position. I want to be able to compare a scouted player with anyone and presented in a similar list form as described above.
More, about scouting…
Why is there a limit of 9 or 10 scouts anyway? Even small teams in Belgium do have more scouts sometimes. I really use my scouts, but I would prefer that 1 single region is connected with 1 scout. Currently all scouts have to cover 2 regions and some even 3…
Also, why do I have to check each time that their task is finished (and then reassign the same or another task)?
I’m not warned when they are finished and I would prefer it that they keep on scouting till I tell different.
READING PLAYER SKILLS
For lots of people it is still difficult to detect who are the good players in the game.
Some are even not able to recognize their own best players. What they do is fall back on reality and work with the ‘names’.
This approach is working for a few years, but then the ‘real’ players disappear and the managers are lost.
I know how to find a good striker, defender or whatever. But without a Genie it is still a lot of work to see if he’s better than my current player.
Partly there are too many parameters, which is good for experienced players, but not for newbies.
And even for the old foxes it is sometimes a little overwhelming. I would suggest that SI would use a combination of two systems:
• Keep the current attribute system
• And a quick look system, where you receive a score for the combined goalie, defending, midfield and attacking skills.
By instance:
Player X
GK 02
DF 12
MD 14
AT 02
Now it’s more easy to compare players at a rogue level and I can see instantly if it is a bad defender or not. In the above example odds are low that he’s having good goalie skills.
This is also solving another problem: if you put a defender with nice attacking skills (but who’s not recognized as an ‘official’ attacker) in a striker position then it will suffer some penalty points.
In the real world, people are not born as attacker or defender. They are defender ‘cause are skills not by some label…
In the real world it happens often that older striker are dropped to the midfield and later even to the defence (only when they have the skills). As an example I think about Sandy Martens at AA Gent. He was ‘born’ as a striker, then he played an attacking midfield position and currently he’s a wingback defender.
ASSIGNING TRAINERS TO TRAINING TYPES
You can automatic assign your trainings staff with a training type.
Only, it is not searching out the best combination for me.
Why?
After all, the rules for the best combinations are retrievable on the internet.
Still I have to deal with this boring stuff.
SQUAD SELECTION
I wish I had a shortcut to enhance the selection of my squad. A dropdown box with the following goodies would enhance my managers’ life:
• Players with the most/least general experience
• Players with the most/least played games this year
• The youngest players
• The fittest players
• The ones with the best motivation
• The latest arrived players
When selecting such a goodie, I expect that the right player is automatically dropped in my squad. It would save me lots of time.
IMPORTING OLD SAVED GAMES
What's amazing me a lot, and we all suffer from this problem, since version 2 of the original Championship Manager, is that we cannot import a game of an older version of FM.
I’m playing with some team for 40 game years in FM 2007. But everything is lost when I want to play FM 2008.
Why is there no import functionality?
It isn’t that hard to develop and it is rewarding old customers.
In fact, I know players that don’t buy the new FM just ‘cause the lack of this functionality.
I know that the database architecture changed a lot since FM2008 but even then…
I was a programmer for more than 10 years, so in general I know what’s involved.
Basically you export the existing FM2007 content, drop the data that’s of no use anymore in 2008 and fill-in the new fields of the 2008 version with default data.
However I can imagine, if they have to do it NOW then it’s rather a lot of work but it’s still manageable.
If SI thought about this feature from the early start of the development cycle of FM2008 then it isn’t that hard work at all.
Mapping the old FM 2007 fields with the new FM2008 ones would be just a matter of discipline.
And difficult or not, I'm pretty sure that the development team fought with heavier animals than an import function.
I’m pretty sure they were capable of writing it.
A ‘cheap’ solution is to export only the essentials: players (and their attributes), training staff, stadium properties, finances, etc… And to go back to the start of any given season. So as saved game in April 2012 or September 2011 would start in FM 2008 in June/July 2011.
Any new rules, regarding the competition will now work. Sure you could lose some ‘game-months’, but that’s better than losing everything.
I’m aware that some compromises have to be taken, ‘cause the next reasons:
• Old FM 2007 fields that are not used anymore in FM2008 will be lost.
• New FM2008 fields that were not used in older version have to be filled-in with default data.
Example:
If a new version of FM would introduce a user changeable ticket-price and it was not used before, then a default value has to be loaded. The default ticket price could be calculated by using the average from all the other teams in the same league. When a user is not happy, he still can use it.
It’s not that hard to program and also for the user, he can create an easy mental model of this given situation.
ADVISOR SYSTEM
I don’t believe in the advisor system.
Microsoft paperclip ‘advisor’ is gone as well. And no, not all what Microsoft is doing is great. But in this case, they were right.
In theory it looks great, but in practice, I have some doubts.
I’ll explain why I think it isn’t working.
I’m basing my opinions on assumptions. I don’t have the real available data, so I could be mistaken…
I’m wondering how much people are new users to the game.
‘Cause the advisor is only useful for them (and to some of the infrequent playing users as well)
Experienced users will find it irritating, demanding and it is slowing down their way of working thus most of them would turn it off (which is possible).
But new users become experienced ones.
I don’t have the data to see how fast a fresh gamer is really used to the game interface.
The frequency of gaming is the key item in this issue.
If they play the game a lot, then they get familiar with the ins and outs rather fast. Even if the application isn’t simple (or is interpreted as not simple) or even if the users are not computer literated then they will make a mental model of FM quickly.
I don’t know how many people drop out before they achieve the ‘expert’ level. (expert in sense of mastering the GUI).
But I don’t assume it are many people. However, I can be mistaken.
I assume that most users of FM do like football anyway, so their motivation is already latent available. Due this motivation, I expect they play a lot (sure in the beginning) to achieve success and understand the application.
So they really have only benefits for a very short time for the advisor thing.
People who like the game will go on. With or without the advisor. The millions of users from previous versions of FM are evidence for this one.
I doubt that lots of people who do not like the game (due several reasons) will be ‘saved’ due the advisor function.
So in short, while the advisor function isn’t bad in all its purity, it’s not worth the money and this due the assumption that the share of real new users is rather small and that a majority of these newcomers are frequent players and master the game anyway.
Microsoft’ paperclip is dead, due comparable reasons as described in this posting.
While video capturing users, usability labs and eye movement track devices all work, the old user profiles (or personas) are still great usability tools.
Intrigued by the above problem I searched for some material to backup my feelings:
Only 8% is describing himself as a beginner. Don’t forget these 8% will become a medium or expert users once.
Based on these polls I can say with a stronger voice that the advisor function was probably not needed.
I wish I could have a look at more accurate poll results gained from a bigger user target to make a more accurate analysis about this issue.
LINKS
What happened to the links?
I mean before, a user could recognize a link due the fact that the word was underlined.
Now, you have to hoover your mouse above.
For newbies, it means it’s harder to learn the game.
The expert ones know that player-, trainer- and club names are clickable, but that’s not the case for the real newbies. So they will miss screens.
And even for the expert ones it is worse.
They receive no hint anymore that something is clickable and thus have to remember that it’s possible, they have to use their unreliable memory and thus the cognitive workload will grow a little with useless memory points.
MORE NEWS IN MATCH OVERVIEW
I wish I received more ‘news’ in the match overview.
Most of the time, I play my matches at high speed, text only. At the match overview I’m informed about who’s scoring, who’s doing own goals, who’s injured, who’s receiving red cards.
What’s missing is injured player that still can play and yellow cards.
For this information I have to switch screens. And there’s no reason for, the information I desire is key and there’s room enough on the match overview screen. Less switching, means more focusing and enjoying the match.
FACEGEN
Now, something positive.
I like FaceGen.
From a usability point of view, it was a very good idea. People don’t think and remember in words but in pictures. It’s easier to remember a face than a name. Also it’s improving the digital ‘relationship’ with our staff and players. It are no longer just abstract names, they become a personality now.
STADIUM
While not a real usability item...
I still can’t visualize and build the stadium. Oh boy, you can’t believe how many people like it to (re)build and watch their stadium growing.
After all, we already can ask the board to expand the stadium, so why not giving us the joy of building it with our 'own' bare hands.
Also, some managers were heavily involved in building new stadions: George Kessler at Antwerp, Michel Verschueren at Anderlecht…
Also, it should be an option. If you don't like removing and building seats then don't.
FM2008, WORTH THE MONEY?
I did a walk trough some bulletin boards dealing FM2008 and I saw many people complaining that few items are really new.
And they are right:
• Fan day isn’t that impressive
• The overall GUI is improved but it’s just a little
• The advisor isn’t designed for the new people, and even for them the worth is probably low
• …
But they have to keep in mind that FM is rarely revolting with each new release, instead it always opted for a more evolutionary approach.
Also the package is more or less in a mature state. There’s not much left that can be improved.
SI has to release a new version each year:
New players arrived, old players quit their career, some became manager/trainer, tons of players and trainers changed clubs, FIFA rules changed and even entire competitions are modified.
These items alone, are rather a huge task, do not underestimate them. And as an extra, each year a few items are improved in FM.
Originally posted by robertodibaggio:
My eyes are bleeding and my head is pounding...longest post ever.
If you have nothing positive to say then don't say anything at all. The post from Sir EW are the kind of posts that are most welcome around here. Constructive and detailed that is hopefully going to start a good discussion that will ultimately end in improving the game.
You can get your ass man to take control of friendlies already, speeding up the game somewhat. He won't necessarily stick to your team selection, though, iirc? That needs a tweak, but this feature could be enhanced I guess.
The nag screens could have a tick box, which enabled would prevent the nag screen for nagging you on this confirmation type again.
You can instruct scouts to search for players for a particular position I guess, but it's up to you to determine who is good! The accuracy should work in the way that you propose. Also, when the scout decides to return home to see his family, you can just send them out again by clicking restart.
The trainers you only have to really assign once.
The squad screens (in fact all the screens) need to be changed to have the customisable views that are present in a number of other SI games (e.g. FML Beta, EHM or OOTP?)
The importing of old saves would be amazing, but it's never going to happen as too many things change from one version to the next. But like you suggest, it shouldn't be an impossible task (just a mammoth one) - and is it worth it?
The advisor is optional, so can be turned off easily. But you wouldn't believe the number of people we see annually on the forums asking how the get the game to do something, like advance in time, as they've been sitting waiting for ages. This hasn't happened this year. That would suggest the advisor is working
Facegen is awesome, I agree, though some of the longer haircuts are awful. What I have not yet tried is to use a random database with fake players - does this generate a facegen image for all players/staff then? I'd also like to be able to create a facegen image for any player who doesn't have a real photo - I'm convinced this must be do-able!
The stadium idea is something I always enjoy in other management sims (when I used to play them ), but have never missed in FM. I guess SI probably feel that if they can't get it exactly right they won't do it all. Also, it is (for the most part) not in a manager's remit.
Originally posted by Ter:
<BLOCKQUOTE>Originally posted by robertodibaggio:
My eyes are bleeding and my head is pounding...longest post ever.
If you have nothing positive to say then don't say anything at all. The post from Sir EW are the kind of posts that are most welcome around here. Constructive and detailed that is hopefully going to start a good discussion that will ultimately end in improving the game. </BLOCKQUOTE>
Thx Ter,
Can I have permission to edit/delete my own postings?
I would like to delete the 'old' postings and to correct some typos in the above one.
Usability in FM2008 
Linear Mode
