I really thought that FM Live 2.0 would be a rag to riches type game in some way. The more I read the more it seems that Si seem keen to keep a GW as flat as possible, as I said in my last update.
This could be a 'I told you so' post. I've read back through my blog, well skimmed through it and here are some posts I did in August.
Still lets revisit:-
28/8/08 More FM Live server downtime
However looking back at GW6 (these figures are pulled from memory) then we’ve had around 3000 users in the last six months and only around 300 remain active.
A retention rate of 10% doesn’t bode well so I’ve two concerns from this. First, if you play a long term game with a youth policy you could quite easily be playing in an empty gameworld in a few short months.
24/08/08 Servers Break
Overall I don’t think these are the biggest issues facing the game but rather longevity. The cause of this is that there isn’t much sense of progression in the game. I’ve said this countless times but the pyramid is too shallow, if you don’t get into the top 50 with in a few months chances are your not getting in the top 50 period.
The high churn rates are down to users losing I'm convinced, there are just not enough that want to play a LLM / Simulation type game. Countless times I've said you can't make a game where everyone is Man Utd you can make a game where everyone becomes Man Utd for a time.
At the council Marc Duffy opened the meeting with 'the Live worlds have died the same way as Beta'. Come on SI, it's right there staring you in the face!
Today then I thought I'd pitch my 'lead a youth team to glory idea' but alas no backers. The thing is I think the current crop of managers are either top managers and intent on staying there or actually pretty happy with being an also ran.
So I kind of think that I'm Winston Churchill during the wilderness years :)
Anyway time to move on again from this, I started saying these things on the old forums after being in the game for a week and after nearly two years it's time to let it go.
So do I think FM Live is doomed? I really hope not it's got massive potential, it's target demographic though is the FM player although that in it's self is something I think SI still need convininging of!
My straw polls of 5/6 real life FM managers well they just don't play FM as Fulham for twenty seasons, the either play as Man Utd or Barca or..... rags to riches.
The game surviving depends on just one thing, how many LLM types there are, if they can get enough of them then rock on, otherwise this time next year I'll be posting memories of FM Live.
3 comments:
They contradict themselves a lot. They say they want a flat gameworld, yet Ov also states:
"Indeed, the new club reputation system will deliberately space out teams so there are teams at a greater range of levels and thus a greater range of incomes compared to things as they are now."
People that want their cake and also to eat it, usually get tummy ache.
Personally, I think Stadiums killed FM Live. Stadium building should be left to some sort of NPC system where the NPCs give you feedback on how your team is doing.
i agree that definitely there is a very significant overlap between FM series and FML. How many FML players actually still go out and buy FM? I for one (and my group of friends) stopped buying FM...
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