Getting the Most From FM13 Through Playing Philosophies

Introduction

In hindsight, this should’ve been my first blog. This post is about something that I think can really enhance the way you play FM, and make sure you get the most enjoyment possible. This post is a look at how you can create your own unique experience and find new and exciting ways of playing this great management simulator, through creating a ‘Playing Philosophy’. A lot of other players already have their own unique ways of looking at Football Manager and getting the most out of the game, and I think they would agree that by approaching the game in a certain way, you’ll get much more enjoyment and a more fulfilling game, than by simply starting it up and diving in without any thought.

I’ll look at a few things here. Firstly, I’ll go through the basic aspects of creating what I call a ‘Playing Philosophy’, then I’ll give you a few questions to think about any time you’re starting a game, and finally I’ll take you through my current save and how I’ve developed my current philosophy.

The Basics

You Get Out What You Put In

I think this statement is true of FM more than almost any other game. There is no singular way of approaching FM, no clear storyline or plot, nothing that will direct toward one course of actions and away form another. FM relies entirely on the user making their own decisions and creating their own enjoyment. You’ll always see a lot of people on the forums claiming the game has lost it’s ‘fun factor’, my argument would be that the user creates the ‘fun factor’ by finding new ways to enjoy the game, and by bringing a desire to learn more and become a better manager through playing the game as it’s intended to be played. If you think about how you want to play the game, what you want to get from it and how you can get there, rather than simply switching it on and expecting to turn Weston-Super-Mare into the next Manchester United without any thought or effort, then you’ll enjoy the game much more.

It Takes a bit of Thought

Later on in this piece I’ll lay out a few basic questions which I think will help you to think about your own Playing Philosophy, and how exactly you can begin to develop it, but for now the main point to take away is that creating a coherent philosophy takes a bit of time and thought. It takes more than just looking at the information on the screen, more than just picking some leagues and a team and diving straight into it, it requires you to take a step back, and look at what you want to achieve, what you want from your game, and how you’re going to get there. It’s a matter of spending more time at the start of your FM save, in order to get more out of it as you go along.

There’s No Right Answer

As I said before, there’s no single way of playing the game and there’s no right answer as to what your playing philosophy or style should be. You can have a different philosophy for every save (sometimes it’s a good thing to do as it’ll maintain your interest and enjoyment), or you could stick with one save and one philosophy throughout. You could start at the bottom, at the top, in the middle, or on an edited database in a different world entirely. It’s completely up to you. The important thing is to remember that the game is yours and nobody else’s, while it’s great to ask for advice and adopt approaches you see in other people’s saves and careers, the final decision is always yours, and you don’t have to answer to anyone.

Creating Your Philosphy

Here I’ll go through a few basic questions that I think will help you to create a philosophy that you’ll find interesting and entertaining. This is not an exhaustive list – it’s probably impossible to create one – but it should hopefully give you a few prompts that will help to create your own style.

1. Realism of Fanticism? 

Are you looking to maintain a degree of realism within the game world, or do you want to live out your dreams, however unrealistic they may be? This question will help guide a large number of aspects when you’re creating your philosophy and setting up your save. It could push you towards starting at the bottom, jumping from club to club as most real life managers choose to do, or sticking with one club and leading them to glory, even if the chances of FC United finding themselves in the Premier League any time soon seem pretty slim. It will also effect the in-game decisions you make – would you club realistically be spending £60m on 14 young players in one transfer window? Or, does it not matter? The amount of realism you want in your game can effect almost every decision, the more you strive for realism, the less flexibility you’ll have with many decisions. Some people may not like the inflexibility, but it also means every decision you make becomes more consequential, the fewer changes you make, the more you’re relying on those changes you’ve made to make a big difference. If you’ve got a realistic philosophy in mind, you’d want to take that into account with every change you make – “is it realistic that I would sack my assistant manager of ten years, to bring in an unknown Brazilian newgen assistant?” maybe it is, if you can rationalise a reason behind it, but maybe it’s not, and maybe you’d want to stick with your less-talented but more realistic assistant, it’s entirely up to you.

As they say, as soon as you hit continue on the first day of your save, the real world disappears and the fantasy world begins. However, the extent to which you try to mirror the real world in your fantasy game world will have a big impact on your save, and should form a important part of your thinking about your playing philosophy.

2. What Do You Want To Achieve?

Do you have a certain goal? Maybe a few goals? Maybe they’re very specific, like particular trophies with a particular team, or maybe they’re very broad, such as wanting to get to the top of a Hall of Fame. Maybe you don’t have any goals in mind, you just want to see what comes your way and base your movements and decisions off that. The goals you have in mind at the start will have a great impact on the decisions you make throughout the game, they may restrict your movements between clubs or leagues, or they may force you to broaden your horizons, but whatever goals you have they’re going to form a big part of your playing philosophy. You could have particularly specialised goals, such as playing with only Homegrown players from your academy (like this fantastic career here), or only Professional players, or only signing players over the age of 30 or under the age of 18, it’s entirely up to you. But it’s important to think about these things early in the save, and continue to keep them in mind as the save progresses. You might change these goals as time goes on in order to keep your interest and maintain your enjoyment, or you might stick rigidly to them and end the save when they’ve been met. Whatever your goals are, you should try to keep them in mind as your save progresses, think about them with each decision you make, ask if that choice coincides with your goals, it may help you to make choices or give you reasons to do certain things instead of others.

3. How In Depth Will You Go?

The level of depth you add to your game can vary wildly. Perhaps you want to create an entire alternate universe based around your FM save. Take a look at the FM Stories Thread in the SI Forums for examples of people who have taken the level of detail in the game to a whole new level, adding depth where SI gives you very little information. I find this approach, while time consuming, can give you a fantastic gaming experience, it will give your career an entirely different complexion and can be a really enjoyable way to play the game. Perhaps you’ll take a different tactic, and only deal with the information that’s there on the screen, using only the depth that FM gives you. Or, like me, you’ll opt for something in between, using real-life footballing knowledge or examples to rationalise decisions made in the game, but relying on the levels of depth you can find in the game if you look hard enough. It’s possible to have a very in-depth gaming experience only by using the details that SI provide, you can immerse yourself in the gaming world, knowing who’s winning the leagues abroad, how the world is changing, and which players are making impacts on the biggest competitions, even while you’re just toiling away in the Blue Square South. Although in some areas the game may not display that much information (Player Personality and the Media being two that I think could do with some serious improvements), the game can offer fantastic levels of detail if you’re willing to look for it and do the reading. you can find new levels of depth that will help you find another level of enjoyment.

The level of depth again will have a great impact on your philosophy. Not only will it have an overall impact on how you’re playing and thinking about the game, it can effect every decision you make as well. For example, if you’re playing a very in-depth game, when making a transfer you’ll want to study every aspect of the player you’re signing. You might get 3-match Scout Reports, or even watch a match yourself, you’ll look at every stat, every rating, and think about whether his personality fits with your squad, whether he could form an effective partnership with another member of your squad, and dozens of other variables you could want to take into account. Whereas, if you’re playing a less in-depth style, perhaps you’ll just as for a basic Scout report and look at the player’s attributes and decide straight away off that.

A more in-depth style is likely to be more time-consuming, but it can also be more rewarding. Whereas, with a less detailed save you could zip through the seasons quickly and enjoy how the game world develops around you. It’s another decision that’s entirely up to you, but it’s going to have a pretty big impact on your game, so it’s worth keeping in mind.

4. Where Does It All Begin?

The final basic question I’d say is where you want to start the save. This will obviously have big consequences for your save, and should be shaped by your answers to the other three questions. It will not only have implications on your future career progression, but should shape what leagues you’re loading and what sort of manager you’re going to create. Depending on the level of depth you’re going for, you might want to think more about the manager – how did he get into football? If he’s an ex-player, who for? Would he have any biases towards them in his management career? This is the final big decision you’re going to make before starting your save, so take some time over it. This decision is going to pretty much shape your entire career, so choose wisely.

Conclusions

So those are just some basic questions to ask yourself when setting up an FM13 save. I hope they’ll help you to think about the game in a slightly different way and broaden the way you play the game. If you’re looking for some examples of other Philosophies, take a loot at the FM Career Thread in the SI Forums, or on Supports Interactive where a few people host their own Careers. You can also take a look at the FM Stories Thread in the SI Forums for another way of playing.

I’m now going to take you through the Philosophy behind my current FM13 Career with Chelsea. Hopefully it’ll help some people when thinking about their next saves.

FM13: Turning the Roman Empire into Mes Que Un Club

My current career is based on the fact that I’m a Chelsea fan who’s pretty dissatisfied with how the club is run. FM gives me the opportunity to change that and have some fun. So my aim was to turn Chelsea from a club which is characterised by the media as in a constant state of crisis, full of mercenaries who only care about money, and a team that rarely players attractive football, into something different. I’m not looking to replicate the footballing style of Barcelona, but I’m looking to replicate the style of the club – the structures, the ethos, the atmosphere and the success.

I am trying to create a Professional and Determined Personality among the squad, with a Loyal club that is Financially Stable and highly successful. I also want to have a British and Irish base to the club, while creating a playing style that incorporates the best of Mourinho’s Chelsea and some elements of the Manchester United Treble-winning side, alongside having a main striker, a Number 9 to fill the boots of Osgood and Drogba.

So that’s my philosophy, how did I get there? Well, here were the answers to the questions I asked above.

1. Realism or Fantacism?

I want to maintain a degree of realism. This isn’t some fantastical project, I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel. I’m looking to put into practice many of things the club’s Chairman wants in real life, but hasn’t been able to achieve. It’s been done by Barcelona and Manchester United, two clubs that really have become admirable institutions, so I think my goals are realistic and I should strive for realism. This has meant that changes have to come slowly, at a realistic pace.

2. What Do I Want To Achieve?

Well this where the idea came from really. As a Chelsea fan, I know what’s happening at my club as well as most, and I really think there are obvious flaws that, while difficult to correct, could be changed and improved. I took Barcelona and Manchester United as Club Models, and decided I wanted to turn Chelsea into a club that matched those two in terms of success and stability. And that, in turn, gave me my specific goals, like creating a Professional squad, and maintaining loyalty to my players.

3. How In Depth Will I Go?

This is where my real philosophy lies, and created the title of my blog. My level of detail is about Playing Between The Lines, playing the game between the space of the information that FM gives you, and your own knowledge of real life football. I’ve not gone into full-on story mode, everything about my save is still based upon the information FM will give me. But by adding greater levels of detail myself, I can maintain my commitment to my goals, and I can get greater enjoyment from the game. It’s about taking advantage of all the levels of detail written into FM, and sometimes reading more into the game than what’s actually there. I’m not one to wear a suit while playing a cup final, as some people have done before, but I don’t mind the odd mental-interview, or thinking about what could really be behind the actions of some of my players, and justifying selling players on a basis that the game won’t fully represent.

4. Where Does it All Start?

I actually considered starting at another club (probably in Portugal) and trying to be successful enough to get the Chelsea job, but in the end I decided just to go straight into the club. This meant I had to think about my manager – who was he and how did he suddenly get this job? It had to be a former International Footballer, I couldn’t see Abramovich giving the job to anyone else unless they had real management experience. This lead me to create a former Irish international, with a lot of experience and some coaching links to the club. This helped me stick with the realism, without creating a manager that would’ve had a real impact on the world prior to starting the game.

So those were the answers to my questions, and that’s how I came to the playing philosophy that I’ve currently got.

The Results

If you want a full rundown of how my Career’s been going, take a look at my career thread on the SI forums. But the main thing to take away from it is the level of enjoyment. I haven’t had this much fun on a one-club save for a long time, it’s added levels of detail and interest that I haven’t had before. It’s meant that I’ve stuck with the save at times where I might not have done before, and I’m certainly going to think about these things when I start my next save on FM14.

Conclusions

I hope this post has been useful. It’s something I’ve certainly been really enjoying on my save, and I know a lot of other managers do too. There’s no limit to how you can enjoy FM, there are so many different tools and add-ons out there that can supplement your enjoyment, and I think that by adopting this kind of gaming-style, you really can find more enjoyment and depth in FM than I ever found before. We’ve all been there sometimes, going to bed thinking about tactics and transfers, jotting names down in a Spreadsheet or Word Doc to remember later, having that press conference while sat on the loo. It’s all about getting everything you can from the game, and I hope that some of these ideas will help you to do just that.