Just one more game

Part 2: The Itch

So I asked Stam to send out a handful of questions a while back, and I was overwhelmed with the amount of responses, so thank you for all your support and feedback. I will now look into those responses as shown below:

What got you hooked on FM?

Here are a few quotes I picked out from the many responses you guys gave us, thanks again for sharing your story with us, and with the FMScout community.

Kray Baker - My brother, he always used to play it, and I used to sit next to him, sort of like an assistant manager, until one day we did a joint game, with Celtic and Rangers and then for the next 10 years its been my obsession.

Shylo Elliott - This game has made me feel the joy of victory and the agony of defeat more than any sports game I have ever played. Victory is not a predetermined outcome.

Filip Nakev - I also like the fact that it's more surprising than FIFA, you never know what might happen and you don't simply control your players. You need to follow everything from your players stats to their feelings at the club and their match results, your staff can be of big help etc.

David Fleming - Been playing from year one. Most realistic management game about and it's never rested on its laurels. Always strived to be more and more realistic. New game release dates are no longer a date in a calendar but an event

Ivan Ivan - The whole idea of being in charge, managing finances, taking part in transfers and having the whole blame factor if the wrong decision is made, its captivating how the whole organization is under your hands, seeing youth succeed, making money, organizing tactics, improving all the time, preparing and searching, pressure and real life feelings associated with winning or losing, possibility to expand and build on, different leagues, different possibilities, logos, jerseys, player attributes and history, player information, the whole thing keeps me captivated.

Jake Wrexhamafc Bruce - I love football and the thought of managing a football club is something every football fan would love to try especially when its there own personally I love the transfer side the FM brings a really realistic feel especially the deadline day thing it great.

Michael Hcafc Prosser - Closest thing we are going to get to real football management!

Michael Brooker - I remember seeing the giant box for Championship Manager 93/94 in a Virgin Megastore. I was only a kid at the time, but was just captivated by the size and the artwork on the back (Yeah primitive to many now days, but back then that was just amazing). I waited until my 10th Birthday and then managed to snag a copy with my money I had saved. Opening it up and seeing the Floppy Disks to install. It took about a week to get it on to my PC, but from that day forward I was hooked. Just loved the idea of having real players, and being able to take clubs to the top and winning. The better I did and admittedly I was useless for a long time on that one, the more it had me engrossed to the game. Every year you would find a new superstar, or a formation that just blew other teams out of the water. I could play for hours, and hours. In 99 I basically went from getting up to playing CM and watching the Cricket World Cup and nothing much else. Fast forward to the present day, and I haven't missed a CM/FM release. Just now the girlfriend and family are not too keen on a grown man talking about taking Southend Utd all the way to the big time.

Harley Messi Yavuz - Having a dream and being able to live it.

Merab Lilla Liparteliani - Newgens got me hooked on this game. There is nothing I love more (within this fantastic game) than to find a newgen in some lower division in a foreign (or domestic) league where he is practically a nobody, having a serious look at his stats, scouting him thoroughly, practically stealing him away from the team since they have no idea what kind of potential I see in him (regardless of what my scouts tell me) and creating a superstar who ends up dominating the field. I found such a newgen in my second season, he was playing for Wolfsburg's 2nd team. I bought him at the age of 15, and now, at the age of 20 he is arguably the best AMC in the game. the maturity and stability is still lacking just a little bit, but he's been on the team of the year in the English Premier League since he was 18 and turns in appearances of the highest quality one after another. I love that guy and he loves me. And it gives me a certain sense of pride, knowing that I made him become into what he is and that he is probably going to play for me for the rest of his career.

Enzo Quesada - What got me hooked? Those 90th minute goals that make you yell even though none of it is real football.

It’s a wee bit touching to realise the love for football manager out there, and no doubt the memories that come with it weather good or bad. Most of you cited a family member for getting you into it, or playing it with you. Or possibly the amount of depth and detail that was possibly a generation ahead in the relatively ‘early days’. Even if it made your grades drop at school/university, or if it took far too much time away from doing the important things. First things first, a game that does that and keeps the likability that most of you seem to have with FM, it’s a terrific game no doubt about it.

Personally for me, It was playing with the old generation on FMScout, and gaining a connection with the players (almost fabricating a relationship with players and imagining the game being real life, almost as a kid filling in the blanks) this was probably down to me being only 11/12 when I first got FM.
And the tactics, seeing my favourite teams not buy the players who I assumed would create a magical partnership that would set the world alight, such as in FM08 signing the inform spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov as the perfect foil for a prime 29 year old del Piero.
Or when 6 players of the team that won me trophies in their last run out of the season in a game that didn’t matter, have my biggest win of the season as the final bow to their sparkling careers.
Or even the youth, and nurturing that one player until he becomes that integral part of your team, and helps you win that competition it’s something not many games can replicate the connection or pride that name brings you.

Does FM still have that pull on you?

Now this was a largely divided response, some saying yes some saying no. The passion can be lost much like... say it’s hard to keep the same firefly passion in a marriage as it is 20 years down the line (I presume, I mean I’m 20 and have no idea... but anyway) the relationship between the user and the game is like that in this case.

I mean some may say when you achieve something special with a team in FM, if that special event happens again, be it coming from 2-0 down to beat your rivals 2-3 in the last min, in their back yard or any other event, it gradually loses its ‘Get In!’ moment as I would put it. Yes it's still there but after the same thing happens time after time it’s not as potent.

Here are a few notable quotes from you guys:

Mikael Schøler - I've always been a FM fan. I have been since the very beginning in the old CM days. In the recent years, I've lost some kind of interest, mojo if you want. I await the new game with anticipation every year, I start eagerly a new save and I play 2-3 seasons. Then I slowly loose interest. I try to continue, but I it simply too boring. Could it be that I lack concentration? I find myself playing more FPS games than strategy, so perhaps its that. I do play loads of FMH though, but I guess it's because of the "fast paced action" it gives. I still love the FM series and I will probably still buy it, but it doesn't bring me the same excitement as previously.

Chris Owen Brown - I wouldn't say it has the same pull as it once did. It's nothing to do with the current version being inferior or anything. More the fact that I have much less time to dedicate to playing. I still have the odd Sunday where I'll end up playing from 10am until 10pm but I just don't have the time anymore.

Alistair Nicholl - So addictive since the good old Blackburn saved games on my amiga, always end up saying just 1 more game as the hours pass by scouting and looking for the next big star!

Damian Mallinson - Football manager will always be able to pull me in yes it has disappointed me throughout the years but I don't let that affect my love of the game because I know it can never be perfect

Neil J. Westhead ‏- Absolutely! If I get bored I just move to a different club and start all over again. Season 2028/29

Do you think you spend too much time playing FM?

Scott Mason - Yes and I don't regret any of it.

Mark Messiah-Kaeto Hale - There's no such thing as spending too much time on FM. I'm only guilty of spending too much time NOT playing FM!

Darren Shields-Pettitt - I don't but my wife does.

Kechieve Michael Forde - So much that my addictive rating is 'what are humans?'

Haha I think the answers to that post speak for themselves.

Over the last 4 years how many hour have you spent on FM?

Some say 84 days, some say 7,128 hours since FM09, and many say too much - an obviously high amount of hours each. Some do not even want to count it all up, and then there is many who blame life’s problems on FM. We lament how many hours we’ve all spent on FM, due to its addictive nature.

I suppose many could say the same for civilization games, or some even for Counter Strike, TF2, LOL. It seems as though quite a few people do not think they spend too much time on it, but regret that they spend that much time on it... got your head around that?

I’m actually glad that many of you have more hours than me at FM, as no game really warrants that amount of time, no matter how good FM is. Imagine spending 5,000 hours in one sitting of fm in 4 years, I mean, how do we all even manage to spend that much time on this franchise?

I’ll leave the links to this particular question below in case you want to see how your hours stack up to the FMScout community:

Facebook post - Twitter Post

It’s like ‘let’s all sit down to play FM for an hour over lunch’, then the next time you look up it’s getting dark. Am I right?