A striking eDM..

Probably one of the best eDMs I've ever seen to win back customers.

I printed both of these versions and went straight to our CMO for the Norwegian triple-play company I'm currently assigned to. This is what we should do too! And we will. Because I'm heading the customer communication project initiated in our company.

Clear, good branding, great messaging, a lot of in-depth details about my club, and a striking call to action!

Brilliant. These sorts of messages are what every company should strive to achieve!

I hope this helps bringing FML back to it's former glory. How can you not want to resubscribe to the game with that quality information dropping into your mailbox?

me 902

Set up a CPU tournament to look through some results based on latest ME..

Level 5 and level 6 teams

The league standings:

1st: Pacy 433 6*

2nd: Pacy 433 5*

3rd: Pacy, low stamina 433 6*

4th: Towering forward 451 6*

5th: Pacy, low stamina 433 5*

6th: Lacking strength, pacy 451 6*

Pace wins matches. Always has. Valid for FML ME 902 / FM 2011..@
If I were to choose, I'd most likely use a 433/451 variant..

Then there were none..

Dunno. Just thought that title sounded cool..

Nothing of interest to be found here. Might pick up FML again when 1.7 hits the high street.

In the meanwhile I've spent time watching some of those Starcraft II videos on youtube. I can't help it, but I just have to watch those fights. It's more fun than playing the game itself really.

Now imagine if we got some commentators uploading FML games to youtube with some 200k views for each game.. That would be cool. Don't think it would happen until at least 2.0 is out though. ;)

Stay tuned. Hopefully I'll give you some more numbers insight when I start playing FML again.

Other than that, not too much to report from rainy Norway. I'm in a new job currently assigned as a consultant for one of the top TV distributors in the country. No numbers yet, more working on the strategic level, but soon enough I'll find my way to their CRM database and spit out some brilliant advice based on a bit of number crunching! :)

Zimbabwe Time?

The FML economy is basically out of hands. Inflation rates did sky rocket. No cure was delivered before reset, though people geniunely believed that the economy would be tight in the start. Perhaps it was, but the only visible end result was that the most active teams would take the largest part of the money cake when inflation set.

Anyway. I think the economic situation in the GWs is the main reason for me not playing the game now. So I introduce a cure for the disease. Let SI move the servers to Zimbabwe, slice a 0 from everyones bank account, and move the servers back.

At the same time money flowing into the gameworld should be tightened and controlled. Add some transfer taxes, introduce some floating taxes. I mean, how hard can it be. Money in = Money out. It's not like our teams take up subprime loans or that SI Bank is Icelandic.

But back on topic. Moving the comma one step to the left probably favour teams who invest in assets (players). Well. So what? We need a solution, and we need it now. I'm quite sure the richest teams have a bank account of some 30m+ already. Well. I'll tell you a secret. They can live happy on their interest income the rest of their FML career. Is that fair to the newcomers? I think not.

I've probably reached the point where you say that I should get my education money back, because I'm introducing new problems. But at least I try to fix something broken. And it needs fixing. NOW.

Thanks.

Andreas F
MSc in Industrial Economics

The ultimate recipe..

Since I've basically stopped playing the game, I'll spit out all my findings through the last year for any of you number geeks out there.

The higher the number, the more important the attribute is for the given position. Con means Team Goals Conceded, Sco means Team Goals Scored.

Now it doesn't take much to see that Pace/Jumping is way too overpowered for strikers/defenders, and that high Jumping sky rocket any ratings.

Some simple number crunching from SI's part could easily have identified these issues long before we saw some 300 posts about this stuff on the official forums. I hope they take the time to balance the ME a bit more in the future. Heck, I'll even crunch these numbers for free for them if they send the proper data in my direction.

Apologies for bad formatting. 

 +------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| att  | pos  | Con  | Sco  | AvR  | GpG  | ApG  |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Acc  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 1.3  |
| Agg  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -0.2 |
| Agi  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -0.8 |
| Ant  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -1.6 |
| Bal  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 1.6  |
| Bra  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -1.7 |
| Cnt  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -2.8 |
| Com  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 0.1  |
| Cre  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 0.9  |
| Cro  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -2.7 |
| Det  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 1.5  |
| Dri  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 3.6  |
| Dsc  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 1.3  |
| Fin  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 4.1  |
| Fir  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 2.7  |
| Fla  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 3.1  |
| Hea  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -0.8 |
| Jum  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 1.1  |
| Lsh  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -0.9 |
| Nat  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 1.1  |
| Off  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 4.8  |
| Pac  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 2.5  |
| Pas  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 1.0  |
| Pos  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -2.5 |
| Sta  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 3.4  |
| Str  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -0.4 |
| Tea  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -2.4 |
| Tec  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 0.8  |
| Wor  |      | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | -2.0 |
| agg  | AM   | NULL | 1.0  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| agi  | AM   | NULL | 0.6  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| ant  | AM   | NULL | 0.8  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| bal  | AM   | NULL | 0.9  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| cmp  | AM   | NULL | 0.2  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| cnt  | AM   | NULL | 1.3  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| cre  | AM   | NULL | 0.1  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| cro  | AM   | NULL | 0.3  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| det  | AM   | NULL | 0.2  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| dri  | AM   | NULL | 0.4  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| dsc  | AM   | NULL | 0.6  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| fin  | AM   | NULL | 0.6  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| fir  | AM   | NULL | -0.2 | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| hea  | AM   | NULL | 1.3  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| inf  | AM   | NULL | -0.4 | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| jum  | AM   | NULL | 0.5  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| lsh  | AM   | NULL | -0.9 | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| off  | AM   | NULL | -1.4 | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| pac  | AM   | NULL | 1.0  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| pas  | AM   | NULL | 0.2  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| pos  | AM   | NULL | 1.3  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| sta  | AM   | NULL | 0.8  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| str  | AM   | NULL | 1.8  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| tec  | AM   | NULL | 0.8  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| wor  | AM   | NULL | 0.6  | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| acc  | DC   | 1.2  | NULL | 7.0  | NULL | NULL |
| agg  | DC   | -0.0 | NULL | 4.7  | NULL | NULL |
| agi  | DC   | 1.9  | NULL | 2.8  | NULL | NULL |
| ant  | DC   | 2.0  | NULL | 0.8  | NULL | NULL |
| bal  | DC   | -0.2 | NULL | 0.2  | NULL | NULL |
| bra  | DC   | -0.6 | NULL | 4.1  | NULL | NULL |
| cmp  | DC   | 0.8  | NULL | 0.5  | NULL | NULL |
| cnt  | DC   | 1.7  | NULL | 4.3  | NULL | NULL |
| det  | DC   | 0.7  | NULL | 2.6  | NULL | NULL |
| dri  | DC   | -0.3 | NULL | -0.6 | NULL | NULL |
| dsc  | DC   | 0.5  | NULL | 3.1  | NULL | NULL |
| fin  | DC   | -0.0 | NULL | 0.2  | NULL | NULL |
| fir  | DC   | -1.0 | NULL | -0.5 | NULL | NULL |
| fla  | DC   | -0.2 | NULL | 6.1  | NULL | NULL |
| hea  | DC   | -2.8 | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| inf  | DC   | -0.5 | NULL | 3.9  | NULL | NULL |
| jum  | DC   | 3.1  | NULL | 22.2 | NULL | NULL |
| mar  | DC   | 0.4  | NULL | 6.3  | NULL | NULL |
| nat  | DC   | -0.8 | NULL | 3.3  | NULL | NULL |
| off  | DC   | -0.9 | NULL | -1.9 | NULL | NULL |
| pac  | DC   | 2.5  | NULL | 8.2  | NULL | NULL |
| pas  | DC   | 1.1  | NULL | 1.2  | NULL | NULL |
| pos  | DC   | 0.2  | NULL | 4.1  | NULL | NULL |
| sta  | DC   | 0.9  | NULL | -1.6 | NULL | NULL |
| str  | DC   | 0.2  | NULL | 3.6  | NULL | NULL |
| tac  | DC   | -0.1 | NULL | 7.1  | NULL | NULL |
| tea  | DC   | 0.2  | NULL | 3.9  | NULL | NULL |
| wor  | DC   | 0.5  | NULL | 6.0  | NULL | NULL |
| acc  | DL   | 1.4  | 1.2  | 5.5  | NULL | NULL |
| agg  | DL   | 0.1  | -0.2 | 4.4  | NULL | NULL |
| agi  | DL   | 0.8  | 0.6  | 3.6  | NULL | NULL |
| ant  | DL   | 0.7  | 0.7  | 1.2  | NULL | NULL |
| bal  | DL   | -0.2 | -0.0 | 0.1  | NULL | NULL |
| bra  | DL   | -0.9 | -1.0 | 3.8  | NULL | NULL |
| cmp  | DL   | 1.3  | -0.6 | 2.6  | NULL | NULL |
| cnt  | DL   | 2.0  | 2.6  | 3.3  | NULL | NULL |
| cre  | DL   | 0.6  | 1.0  | 1.3  | NULL | NULL |
| cro  | DL   | 0.3  | 0.7  | 3.0  | NULL | NULL |
| det  | DL   | 1.3  | 0.8  | 3.5  | NULL | NULL |
| dri  | DL   | 1.4  | 0.5  | -0.4 | NULL | NULL |
| dsc  | DL   | 0.9  | -0.4 | 2.5  | NULL | NULL |
| fla  | DL   | -0.3 | 2.4  | 5.7  | NULL | NULL |
| inf  | DL   | -1.2 | NULL | 3.7  | NULL | NULL |
| jum  | DL   | 2.7  | 3.0  | 16.8 | NULL | NULL |
| mar  | DL   | -0.8 | -0.0 | 4.3  | NULL | NULL |
| off  | DL   | -1.1 | -0.8 | -3.1 | NULL | NULL |
| pac  | DL   | 2.8  | 1.3  | 8.8  | NULL | NULL |
| pas  | DL   | -0.5 | 0.5  | 2.4  | NULL | NULL |
| pos  | DL   | 0.6  | -0.7 | 3.3  | NULL | NULL |
| sta  | DL   | 2.0  | 2.4  | -0.5 | NULL | NULL |
| str  | DL   | -0.3 | -1.6 | 2.2  | NULL | NULL |
| tac  | DL   | 0.7  | 1.4  | 7.8  | NULL | NULL |
| tea  | DL   | 0.7  | 1.6  | 6.5  | NULL | NULL |
| tec  | DL   | 0.9  | 0.3  | 0.9  | NULL | NULL |
| wor  | DL   | -0.5 | -0.3 | 5.7  | NULL | NULL |
| acc  | DM   | 1.5  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| agg  | DM   | 1.3  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| agi  | DM   | 0.4  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| ant  | DM   | 1.4  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| bal  | DM   | 1.5  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| cmp  | DM   | 0.8  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| cnt  | DM   | 1.2  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| cre  | DM   | 0.8  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| cro  | DM   | -0.7 | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| det  | DM   | 3.5  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| dri  | DM   | -0.5 | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| dsc  | DM   | -0.5 | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| fla  | DM   | 1.2  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| inf  | DM   | 0.7  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| jum  | DM   | 3.1  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| mar  | DM   | -0.1 | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| off  | DM   | -0.8 | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| pac  | DM   | 1.6  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| pas  | DM   | 1.2  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| pos  | DM   | 0.2  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| sta  | DM   | 0.9  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| str  | DM   | -1.4 | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| tac  | DM   | 0.3  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| tea  | DM   | 0.6  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| tec  | DM   | -1.2 | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| wor  | DM   | 0.6  | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| acc  | GK   | 3.9  | -1.1 | 5.3  | NULL | NULL |
| aer  | GK   | 1.8  | 0.5  | 9.9  | NULL | NULL |
| agg  | GK   | -0.4 | NULL | 1.1  | NULL | NULL |
| agi  | GK   | 0.9  | -1.0 | 1.3  | NULL | NULL |
| ant  | GK   | 0.7  | 0.3  | -4.2 | NULL | NULL |
| bal  | GK   | -0.1 | NULL | 1.5  | NULL | NULL |
| bra  | GK   | -0.8 | 1.3  | 9.7  | NULL | NULL |
| cmd  | GK   | 1.5  | -0.1 | 0.9  | NULL | NULL |
| cmp  | GK   | 1.1  | -0.1 | 2.5  | NULL | NULL |
| cnt  | gk   | 1.8  | 1.0  | 1.9  | NULL | NULL |
| com  | GK   | -0.7 | 0.5  | 0.7  | NULL | NULL |
| cre  | gk   | -0.6 | 0.8  | 6.2  | NULL | NULL |
| det  | GK   | 0.4  | 0.8  | 6.0  | NULL | NULL |
| dsc  | GK   | 0.5  | -0.6 | 3.7  | NULL | NULL |
| ecc  | GK   | 0.4  | 0.3  | 1.8  | NULL | NULL |
| han  | GK   | -0.4 | 1.9  | 5.5  | NULL | NULL |
| inf  | GK   | -0.1 | 0.6  | 3.4  | NULL | NULL |
| jum  | GK   | 0.1  | -1.1 | 2.9  | NULL | NULL |
| kic  | GK   | -1.2 | -0.9 | 2.7  | NULL | NULL |
| off  | gk   | -2.2 | -0.0 | 2.6  | NULL | NULL |
| one  | GK   | 1.0  | -0.8 | 1.7  | NULL | NULL |
| pac  | gk   | -1.8 | 2.0  | 1.2  | NULL | NULL |
| pos  | GK   | -0.0 | 0.4  | 3.7  | NULL | NULL |
| pun  | GK   | -1.0 | -2.3 | 4.0  | NULL | NULL |
| ref  | GK   | 3.0  | 4.7  | 4.7  | NULL | NULL |
| rus  | GK   | 0.4  | -0.3 | 7.1  | NULL | NULL |
| sta  | GK   | 1.5  | 1.5  | 1.4  | NULL | NULL |
| str  | GK   | -0.2 | -0.4 | 2.3  | NULL | NULL |
| tea  | GK   | 2.1  | NULL | 2.2  | NULL | NULL |
| thr  | GK   | -0.9 | NULL | 0.6  | NULL | NULL |
| wor  | GK   | 0.9  | NULL | -8.7 | NULL | NULL |
| acc  | M    | 2.6  | 1.9  | 4.3  | NULL | NULL |
| agi  | M    | -1.2 | -0.1 | 0.3  | NULL | NULL |
| ant  | M    | -1.6 | -0.1 | -5.2 | NULL | NULL |
| bal  | M    | -0.5 | 2.2  | 4.8  | NULL | NULL |
| bra  | M    | 0.7  | 0.1  | -0.3 | NULL | NULL |
| cmp  | M    | -0.2 | 1.8  | 2.5  | NULL | NULL |
| cnt  | M    | 2.5  | 1.4  | -1.5 | NULL | NULL |
| cre  | M    | 0.2  | 0.2  | 0.7  | NULL | NULL |
| cro  | M    | -1.5 | -0.5 | 4.8  | NULL | NULL |
| det  | M    | -0.2 | 0.6  | 6.1  | NULL | NULL |
| dri  | M    | 1.2  | 0.6  | -0.6 | NULL | NULL |
| dsc  | M    | -0.4 | -1.8 | 0.2  | NULL | NULL |
| fin  | M    | 0.7  | 0.4  | 0.6  | NULL | NULL |
| fla  | M    | 0.4  | -2.8 | 15.7 | NULL | NULL |
| hea  | M    | 3.0  | 2.1  | 5.7  | NULL | NULL |
| inf  | M    | -1.8 | 0.4  | 2.0  | NULL | NULL |
| jum  | M    | 1.6  | 0.6  | 8.3  | NULL | NULL |
| off  | M    | 0.3  | 2.3  | -0.2 | NULL | NULL |
| pac  | M    | 3.7  | 2.5  | 9.1  | NULL | NULL |
| pas  | M    | 0.9  | 2.2  | 1.7  | NULL | NULL |
| pos  | M    | 1.0  | 0.9  | 0.6  | NULL | NULL |
| sta  | M    | 0.4  | 3.1  | -0.6 | NULL | NULL |
| str  | M    | 0.6  | -0.6 | 0.5  | NULL | NULL |
| tea  | M    | 1.8  | -0.0 | 10.6 | NULL | NULL |
| tec  | M    | 0.5  | -0.8 | 5.4  | NULL | NULL |
| wor  | M    | 0.1  | -1.1 | 6.8  | NULL | NULL |
| acc  | S    | NULL | 1.3  | 8.2  | 0.9  | NULL |
| agg  | S    | NULL | 0.5  | 3.6  | -2.1 | NULL |
| agi  | S    | NULL | 0.2  | 1.5  | -0.3 | NULL |
| ant  | S    | NULL | -0.3 | -0.8 | 0.5  | NULL |
| bal  | S    | NULL | 1.6  | 4.9  | 2.4  | NULL |
| Bra  | S    | NULL | -0.1 | 1.7  | -0.2 | NULL |
| cmp  | S    | NULL | 0.8  | 4.3  | -0.4 | NULL |
| cnt  | S    | NULL | 1.4  | -1.0 | 2.1  | NULL |
| cre  | S    | NULL | 0.9  | 0.8  | -0.0 | NULL |
| cro  | S    | NULL | -0.1 | 2.6  | -0.2 | NULL |
| det  | S    | NULL | 1.4  | 3.2  | 1.1  | NULL |
| dri  | S    | NULL | 1.5  | 1.0  | 0.6  | NULL |
| dsc  | S    | NULL | -0.1 | -0.1 | 0.4  | NULL |
| fin  | S    | NULL | -0.2 | 5.0  | 0.2  | NULL |
| fir  | S    | NULL | -2.1 | 4.1  | -1.5 | NULL |
| Fla  | S    | NULL | -3.3 | 11.9 | -1.7 | NULL |
| hea  | S    | NULL | 0.4  | 2.3  | 0.4  | NULL |
| inf  | S    | NULL | 0.7  | 1.6  | -0.4 | NULL |
| jum  | S    | NULL | 1.9  | 15.4 | 0.9  | NULL |
| lsh  | S    | NULL | 0.5  | 0.4  | 0.6  | NULL |
| off  | S    | NULL | 0.1  | 3.2  | -0.3 | NULL |
| pac  | S    | NULL | 3.8  | 11.6 | 2.7  | NULL |
| pas  | S    | NULL | -0.3 | 1.1  | -0.3 | NULL |
| pos  | S    | NULL | 0.8  | -2.8 | 0.3  | NULL |
| sta  | S    | NULL | 1.8  | 1.4  | 2.6  | NULL |
| str  | S    | NULL | -0.2 | 0.9  | 0.5  | NULL |
| Tac  | S    | NULL | NULL | NULL | -1.0 | NULL |
| Tea  | S    | NULL | -0.3 | 2.7  | -1.2 | NULL |
| tec  | S    | NULL | 0.8  | 2.4  | -0.1 | NULL |
| wor  | S    | NULL | -0.1 | 6.6  | -0.5 | NULL |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+

Still alive..

Still alive. Well. Sort of.

I just cancelled two of my three active subscriptions today. And the reasons? Same as I've been complaining about the last couple of years. Give me something fun to do in the game.

One subscription should be enough anyway. I guess many people take on several subscriptions just because managing one team simply gets boring in the long run as things are now. Maybe the PvE post in the forums can bring some playability back to the game if it is implemented.

I'm really not that concerned about the faults of the ME as many other bloggers/forum posters. I'll just adapt to whatever it takes and play the game for the current ME. After all, this is a numbers game, so if pace 20 is what I need, then pace 20 is what I'll buy. If 433 is the winning formation, then 433 is what I'll play. But I'm really disappointed by the lack of clarity shown by the developers when forum users raise genuine concerns. There are countless examples. My biggest gripes being lack of transfer taxes, uncontrolled flow of money in and out of the Gameworlds, way to much money floating up to the top (trading) teams and generally the fact that the game is quite linear and uninspiring most of the time.

I don't know what it takes to truly fix the game, I'm not a games developer. But I know what it takes to fix the game for me. I know why I was addicted to CM in it's early days. Make it interesting. Make it something I want to play. Make it an alternative to watching movies. Make it into a talking point with my friends. Make it keep me constantly checking my email to see if anything interesting has happened in the game. And ultimately. Make me play FML hour after hour. Just one more match. Just one more win. Just five more minutes. Until I force myself to go to bed only to be totally excited about getting up in the morning to check for any changes that might have occurred while I was asleep.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!?!

So 6 hours a day with vuvuzela isn't enough to annoy the hell out of your girlfriend?

Well here is the solution: Bring the vuvuzela to FML!

1. Install match sounds from add ons in FML
2a (Mac). Navigate to ~/Library/Preferences/Sports Interactive/Football Manager Live/fml_live_v1/add_ons/match_sounds/
2b (Win). Navigate to %appdata%/Sports Interactive/Football Manager Live/fml_live_v1/add_ons/match_sounds/
3. Backup/rename FM_loop2.wav
4. Download and replace with this file FM_loop2.wav
5. Restart FML & wave goodbye to your girlfriend when she moves out so you get more time to play FML! :)