Without being biased, Football Manager is the greatest video game that has ever been produced. The game continuously has millions of fans playing simultaneously.
However, not all FM fans play the game as obsessively as we do at the Higher Tempo Press. There are undoubtedly different types of FM players. What are the various types of Football Manager players?
The hardcore player
This is the most serious FM player, who is utterly obsessed with the game. These are the players who look at every single detail of the game. They design their own tactics, training sessions and look at replacing the tea lady. Doris gets a complete performance evaluation when they take over at a club.
These hardcore players often use their obsession to their advantage by creating YouTube channels or FM sites, and some are majorly successful. They play a big part in the Football Manager scene, which seems to have sprung up.
The hardcore FM players are also the brave or mad ones who don suits for big games like derbies and cup finals. This band of players may sometimes take the game slightly too seriously.
However, these players are the lifeblood of the game. Without these diehard players, Football Manager would not be the success it is today.
Hardcore players don’t need food, drink, or showers. They enjoy marathon Football Manager sessions and carry on playing the game, whatever happens around them—often blocking out the outside world.
The former hardcore player
Unfortunately, I count myself among this number. These are hardcore players who have had to reign in their Football Manager addiction because they have been hit by adult responsibilities.
They used to be obsessed with Football Manager but have managed to wean themselves off the game slightly and slowly. Or they have accepted that their family will leave them if they don’t cut down or, heaven forbid, stop obsessing over the game.
However, the game never really leaves them. They still dream of playing the game and guiding their beloved Dorking Wanderers to Champions League glory or completing an even more impossible task like turning Everton into a competent team.
For these players, Football Manager is like a former partner love that they can’t stop thinking about. They may not play the game as much as they used to, but the flame still burns strong inside of them.
Despite the fact that they don’t play Football Manager as much or as long, they do play the game to death when they have a chance.
A long plane journey, a time when everybody is out of the house, or even just when they have that rare spare time in between their child’s busy sporting schedule.
For this group, there may even be a rare time when they can still get a few hours of a long gaming session in. However, this is usually a rare but beautiful thing. These sessions pull the former hardcore player back into the FM world.
It leads them to believe that they can once again become a hardcore. However, that little thing time is always an obstacle to recovering their hardcore status.
The casual player
Some would say that there is very little difference between the former hardcore player and the casual. There is nuance in the fact that casual players don’t have and never will have the same passion as the hardcore or former hardcore player has for Football Manager.
Maybe that’s a good thing, as the game hasn’t consumed them to the same extent as more serious players. Casual players can pick the game up and play without taking it too seriously. They don’t think about it in bed at night or while sitting on the toilet. Maybe they are the lucky ones.
I often think that maybe these casual players don’t understand the game, and that’s why they have such a casual attitude towards playing Football Manager.
My son is one of these players. He asked me to buy him the last two editions of Football Manager, but then he played only a few seasons in both games.
Most of the time, he asks me to help him out, and it just turns into one of my saves. He says to play a few more games for him while he wanders off and plays football in the garden, or even worse, goes to play the latest FIFA/EA FC Sports game. Then he won’t touch it again for months.
I know he doesn’t get FM like I do, and he probably never will. However, that may well be a generational thing. Unlike the hardcore and ex-hardcore players, casual players are unlikely to buy the game when it comes out.
They will wait until it’s reduced in price or even, sometimes free to download at specific periods from Epic Store. They may leave the game for months and then pick it up and just play. There are no planning transfers, strategy, or anything else. They just play on a whim.
This may seem like madness to me, but maybe the casuals are the ones who play Football Manager the right way. Perhaps they have life figured out, and it’s us obsessives who have everything wrong.
Maybe they don’t want to get to the stage where it consumes their life, and they play so much Football Manager that their partner decides they have had enough and decides to desert them.
However, maybe the more logical reason is that they prefer other video games or prefer to do different things in their spare time than playing Football Manager, and the unlikely scenario that FM is not every person’s favourite video game!
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