Idea for FM14- Testimonials

[sjm]

Neil's reply made me instantly think of a great quote on another forum:

"To laymen, software development is something akin to wizardry. Neither time, nor effort are involved. If software is missing features they want, or has bugs, it is solely because someone has been too lazy to wave their magic wand."

[scooterSB]

while I fully understand both the above posts, and am glad SI have noted the request, I have to say this....

We arn't talking about about some quirk, or bug in the game. We are talking about a big and important aspect of footballing life.

If you want a realistic simulation of football, testimonials should be part of it, and should have been from the very start.

[Herbert Fandel]

while I fully understand both the above posts, and am glad SI have noted the request, I have to say this....

We arn't talking about about some quirk, or bug in the game. We are talking about a big and important aspect of footballing life.

If you want a realistic simulation of football, testimonials should be part of it, and should have been from the very start.

Ok, this is taking it too far.

In a few years testimonials will be gone from football, as no-one will play at a club long enough!

E.g. 126 players out of contract in SPL, most lower leagues dealing in 1 year deals

I too would like them in the game, but to call them important is ludicrous.

[Neil Brock]

Yeah let's think of things all-across the entire footballing world - where in importance would you say Testimonials would rank? It's basically a glorified friendly (no offence!)

[nev147]

Yeah let's think of things all-across the entire footballing world - where in importance would you say Testimonials would rank? It's basically a glorified friendly (no offence!)

I would differ from this opinion.

In terms of the testimonial itself, then yes I agree it is a glorified friendly. But for me it is more about a long serving players being rewarded for their loyalty and commitment. In today's game spending ten years at one club is not a common occurrence. It is more about FM being as realistic as possible. I think the word we are looking for is immersion. The testimonial itself is of little importance. But more the meaning of what it represents. Rewarding a player for his services to the club. Kudos. Having a few news items, maybe presenting the player with a medal or something would be a nice touch. Not by a picture, just a news item. FM is about game play and everything else that goes with it but a few nice little quirks every now and again in your management journey would be pretty cool.

[Herbert Fandel]

I would differ from this opinion.

In terms of the testimonial itself, then yes I agree it is a glorified friendly. But for me it is more about a long serving players being rewarded for their loyalty and commitment. In today's game spending ten years at one club is not a common occurrence. It is more about FM being as realistic as possible. I think the word we are looking for is immersion. The testimonial itself is of little importance. But more the meaning of what it represents. Rewarding a player for his services to the club. Kudos. Having a few news items, maybe presenting the player with a medal or something would be a nice touch. Not by a picture, just a news item. FM is about game play and everything else that goes with it but a few nice little quirks every now and again in your management journey would be pretty cool.

I don't think that was ever disagreed, it is the 'big and important aspect of football' and the implication that it was disgraceful that testimonials havent been in FM/CM in its inception that was being questioned. Based on this thread many posters would like to see testimonials, just not at the expensive of near-everything else

[nev147]

I don't think that was ever disagreed, it is the 'big and important aspect of football' and the implication that it was disgraceful that testimonials havent been in FM/CM in its inception that was being questioned. Based on this thread many posters would like to see testimonials, just not at the expensive of near-everything else

Yes I do see that. Although testimonials are a staple diet of football, and have been for many years. It does seem odd that they do not exist in FM, due to the amount of detail that SI do cover. It seems to be a logical idea (One that has been mentioned for a while now) and something that would be easy, or rather not too difficult to implement. A few news items, and then an option to arrange a friendly in the close season against a club. And a bit more 'fuss' rather than a normal friendly in terms of new information.

Player A played for x Club for 15 years, making his debut against x club, playing x amount of games and scoring x amount of goals. Maybe a bit about his achievements, his reputation, his personality.... etc etc. Just a paragraph, a bit like the players bio, but maybe a bit more descriptive of the individual player rather than just the players bio repeated. Just a few set templates would be enough. In order to avoid repetition.

Yourself, Herbert and Neil seem to think there are so many other features that would come above this. I am not saying this is the world greatest idea. It is a good idea that does not seem unrealistic and would bring FM that bit more realism and immersion. And would increase the interaction levels which would be nice and quirky. Out of hundreds of new features/things that get added each year, I can not agree that there are tens and tens and even hundreds that come above this.

[Herbert Fandel]

Yourself, Herbert and Neil seem to think there are so many other features that would come above this. I am not saying this is the world greatest idea. It is a good idea that does not seem unrealistic and would bring FM that bit more realism and immersion. And would increase the interaction levels which would be nice and quirky. Out of hundreds of new features/things that get added each year, I can not agree that there are tens and tens and even hundreds that come above this.

Well without knowing how much work goes into making such a thing neither of us can say for sure, assuming their value is relative to time spent.

We can agree to view it with differing importance though, there is no problem with that

[scooterSB]

Yeah let's think of things all-across the entire footballing world - where in importance would you say Testimonials would rank? It's basically a glorified friendly (no offence!)

Ok then, lets think of things all across the entire footballing world THAT ARN'T EVEN MENTIONED IN FOOTBALL MANAGER, where would testimonials rank then?....I would say top of the list.

Anyone who thinks they are just a glorified friendly should speak to an ex-pro who has had a testimonial match, or even played in one for a team mate. They will tell you how important those events are.

Celebrating a players loyalty, service and achievements at a club should never be seen as not important.

[themadsheep2001]

Ok then, lets think of things all across the entire footballing world THAT ARN'T EVEN MENTIONED IN FOOTBALL MANAGER, where would testimonials rank then?....I would say top of the list.

Anyone who thinks they are just a glorified friendly should speak to an ex-pro who has had a testimonial match, or even played in one for a team mate. They will tell you how important those events are.

Celebrating a players loyalty, service and achievements at a club should never be seen as not important.

They are still just glorified friendlies in the grand scheme of things. Lets not act like its the end of the world that they currently are not in FM, good addition though they would be. Given the relative infrequency of testimonials, there are certainly lots more features that could be refined before you get to them. I'd rather they focused on fixing current issues, than adding something like that, if it comes down to a matter of prioritising time.

[Herbert Fandel]

Ok then, lets think of things all across the entire footballing world THAT ARN'T EVEN MENTIONED IN FOOTBALL MANAGER, where would testimonials rank then?....I would say top of the list..

Top of things that arent even mentioned, arguably.

Top of priorities for the FM 14 workhours, no way, improving the current game comes higher for me.

Something I want to see in the game, yes

[swisso]

I'd argue that FM needs to immerse the user more in what's happening in the game-world, to give it a more personal touch if you will. Especially in long-term games where most sense of realism vanishes after a decade in, once real players retire and giants fall from grace.

I think introducting testamonials to long-serving newgens under your management would go some way to adding a personal touch

[scooterSB]

I don't think it should be the FM developers top priority, not at all. But I do think the game needs new additions to keep it fresh, not just tweeks.

[BenArsenal]

Ok then, lets think of things all across the entire footballing world THAT ARN'T EVEN MENTIONED IN FOOTBALL MANAGER, where would testimonials rank then?....I would say top of the list.

Anyone who thinks they are just a glorified friendly should speak to an ex-pro who has had a testimonial match, or even played in one for a team mate. They will tell you how important those events are.

Celebrating a players loyalty, service and achievements at a club should never be seen as not important.

Dude, name me some testimonials you've remembered watching.

In my lifetime I only have:

Dennis Bergkamp

Tony Adams

Ryan Giggs

Alan Shearer

Of course they're important to the people involved, but it's not like it's something that happens year after year. It would of course be nice to have, but I don't think it's a pressing concern.

[scooterSB]

Dude, name me some testimonials you've remembered watching.

In my lifetime I only have:

Dennis Bergkamp

Tony Adams

Ryan Giggs

Alan Shearer

Of course they're important to the people involved, but it's not like it's something that happens year after year. It would of course be nice to have, but I don't think it's a pressing concern.

You have just named 5 legends of the game, and these are matches you remember fondly, how many friendly's do you remember?

When you have a long career in FM, 20-30 years, you see new football legends come and go. Matches feel like the roll into one, especially pre-seaon games.

Having 5 truly memorable pre-season games and 20 year career, for legendary players that reward a players service and increase moral I think would be a good addition. Thats all I'm saying

[QWERTYOP]

The thing is, they WOULD have to be done differently to normal games, because they ARE different to normal games - nobody tackles anybody, nobody gets sent off, they can often end up being very high scoring games with crazy stuff happening. So on reflection, i'm not sure it would be all that simple.

[gunner86]

I'm not against the idea, but I wonder if the work required to get this into the game merits the the amount of usability of the feature. As an Arsenal fan, the only testimonials I recall for our club are Tony Adams and Dennis Bergkamp, and Bergkamp's was the most recent in 2006(?), other than that, Jamie Carraghers, Niall Quinn might have had one. Steve Fletcher at Bournemouth has a stand named after him, not sure if he got a testimonial. And Ryan Giggs of course.

It's not a common enough occurrence IRL to make it a priority.

Add into that, that most players don't remain at a club as long as they used to. The likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, who are one club players are a dying breed. Even Messi has talked about returning to play in Argentina.

Does that mean that loyalty should be rewarded even more so? Maybe it does, but is testimonials the best way of doing it? I don't know.

Personally, I think its a great little idea, but would be possibly better suited to a very rare thing. Much like having a son in the game.

I think that shirt retirements should also fall under this umbrella, but again have conditions that make them very rare occurrences (player been at the club for 10/12/15+ years prior to retirement AND has worn the same number for 10+ years AND not number 1-11 AND player is club legend etc.)

[QWERTYOP]

I'm not against the idea, but I wonder if the work required to get this into the game merits the the amount of usability of the feature. As an Arsenal fan, the only testimonials I recall for our club are Tony Adams and Dennis Bergkamp, and Bergkamp's was the most recent in 2006(?), other than that, Jamie Carraghers, Niall Quinn might have had one. Steve Fletcher at Bournemouth has a stand named after him, not sure if he got a testimonial. And Ryan Giggs of course.

It's not a common enough occurrence IRL to make it a priority.

Add into that, that most players don't remain at a club as long as they used to. The likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, who are one club players are a dying breed. Even Messi has talked about returning to play in Argentina.

Does that mean that loyalty should be rewarded even more so? Maybe it does, but is testimonials the best way of doing it? I don't know.

Personally, I think its a great little idea, but would be possibly better suited to a very rare thing. Much like having a son in the game.

I think that shirt retirements should also fall under this umbrella, but again have conditions that make them very rare occurrences (player been at the club for 10/12/15+ years prior to retirement AND has worn the same number for 10+ years AND not number 1-11 AND player is club legend etc.)

Numbers 1-11 can and have been retired before.

[shirajzl]

So many posts about a feature with only cosmetic and "feels good" value. I'd rather SI focus on improving some core aspects of the game, things that apply on every day basis. We have enough gimmicky features as it is in FM...

[gunner86]

Numbers 1-11 can and have been retired before.

I know they have, but was just overcoming the objection to only ending up with high numbers left.

[QWERTYOP]

I know they have, but was just overcoming the objection to only ending up with high numbers left.

You'd have to play an incredibly long game before that ever even had a chance of happening.

[gunner86]

You'd have to play an incredibly long game before that ever even had a chance of happening.

I know, I had it a couple of years back where Fabregas retired at Arsenal and the number 4 was retired. Only time I've had a number retired, and he was captain from start of the game and played to the age of about 36 IIRC.

It was a nice touch.

[Herbert Fandel]

If someone was to go to the extraordinary lengths to do that, they could just do something like after 50 years if > 5 numbers retired then only the 1 with the highest score for the club's icon/legend rating gets kept.

[Gandy]

I know, I had it a couple of years back where Fabregas retired at Arsenal and the number 4 was retired. Only time I've had a number retired, and he was captain from start of the game and played to the age of about 36 IIRC.

It was a nice touch.

I didn't actually know numbers could be retired, nice.