The Concept Of Visible Potential

[MidnightQuixote]

So, here's something I've always struggled with.

Can anyone point me to an example in real life of:

- Two players, A and B

- Both the same age

- A has a higher current ability than B

- B has a higher potential ability than A

What would that description by a scout sound like? "A is much better than B at passing, but despite B's bad passing, I can tell that one day he'll be better at passing, despite them both having the same amount of years left to develop"?

Potential in the manner than FM presents it is such a common theme throughout sports video games, so clearly it's a widely agreed-upon method. I'm just struggling to visualise it. Perhaps my biggest peeve with it is that potential is publicly visible, which leads to scenarios like A and B's.

Should potential ever be visible as anything more than age (ie. development years left) plus current ability?

Edited June 23, 2021 by MidnightQuixote

[HUNT3R]

21 minutes ago, MidnightQuixote said:

Perhaps my biggest peeve with it is that potential is publicly visible, which leads to scenarios like A and B's.

It isn't visible. We see PPA (perceived potential ability) and that's based on things (in the scout or coach opinion) like age and current ability.

[MidnightQuixote]

2 minutes ago, HUNT3R said:

It isn't visible. We see PPA (perceived potential ability) and that's based on things (in the scout or coach opinion) like age and current ability.

Oh. Good!

I'd always assumed that the scout's ability was just a measure of his accuracy at revealing their accurate PA, and how often he'd do that. Glad to know there's more at work under the hood.

Well, nevermind then! 

[HUNT3R]

1 minute ago, MidnightQuixote said:

Oh. Good!

I'd always assumed that the scout's ability was just a measure of his accuracy at revealing their accurate PA, and how often he'd do that. Glad to know there's more at work under the hood.

Well, nevermind then! 

Even a 20/20 coach/scout can still be wrong. Of course, they become more 'sure' as a player gets older and of course, a 20/20 staff member will be more accurate than others, but that doesn't mean they're always correct and it's not just as simple as simply projecting the PA number in terms of stars.

[smeagoltonez]

3 hours ago, HUNT3R said:

It isn't visible. We see PPA (perceived potential ability) and that's based on things (in the scout or coach opinion) like age and current ability.

Very interesting! So is it a case of the scout/coach thinking 'their ability is this already so they could reach this ability in the future as they have this number of years to progress? Or is it based on other factors too? For example, the player's personality.

[Platinum]

I'd say Rooney and Ronaldo is a popular example. Rooney was the better player in the younger years but Ronaldo was much fitter and much more determined/was always training harder.

But yeah as Hunter said, the coaches only predict the PA anyway and its based on a lot of factors.

[duesouth]

17 hours ago, MidnightQuixote said:

Oh. Good!

I'd always assumed that the scout's ability was just a measure of his accuracy at revealing their accurate PA, and how often he'd do that. Glad to know there's more at work under the hood.

Well, nevermind then! 

In the case of your youth intake, you'll see the PPA change over time.  For example, on one youth intake day in my FM19 save, I got very excited with three 5* PPA players came down the pipe (doing the San Marino Challenge that rarely, if ever, happens).  Two developed really well and became 5* CA - but one had a bad personality and that 5* PPA changed to 3* PPA after a short time - and then up again to 4* after successful mentoring.  Obviously, in the case of scouting, that would be one snapshot opinion which might change in a years time.

[smeagoltonez]

1 hour ago, duesouth said:

In the case of your youth intake, you'll see the PPA change over time.  For example, on one youth intake day in my FM19 save, I got very excited with three 5* PPA players came down the pipe (doing the San Marino Challenge that rarely, if ever, happens).  Two developed really well and became 5* CA - but one had a bad personality and that 5* PPA changed to 3* PPA after a short time - and then up again to 4* after successful mentoring.  Obviously, in the case of scouting, that would be one snapshot opinion which might change in a years time.

Great, thank you! So it would seem that the scouts/coaches do take a player's personality into account which is good news. Any other factors that anyone is aware of? I'm assuming the coaches aren't aware of hidden attributes? So really, they are going to make roughly the same judgements as me as they're looking at CA & the players age & personality?