Innovation or Stagnation

Right first things first. I don't actually get the title of the challenge so I must first try and clear that up. So let's define both words. Innovation seems to mean something new, a creation, a new device or process. Hmm, sounds to posh for me and this still doesn't help me. Stagnation, what does that mean?! I quote: 'A state of inactivity' and also 'a lack of motion'. Sounds like me on a Sunday morning.

Right so. Something new and something I guess being old? So new or old? Nah, sounds wrong. Let's think again. Maybe I should think of an idea something new and 'innovative', see what I did there? And then go on to say what's not changed on the game, actually the second part sounds boring. Erm, let's just make something up at the end. Maybe sing a song perhaps?

Something new that could and should be in Football Manager 2008 via patch or in Football Manager 2009. Well something I know a lot of members do, as I've seen threads on this before, is celebrating goals and winning things, if it's in a final or making a dramatic comeback.

I frequently bounce around my bedroom when my team scores an important goal. I hate playing at Villa Park, or Ewood Park, I don't expect to win these games so when we take the lead especially late on, it sends me mental. Childish I know, but it's just a great feeling, again, childish I know. There is also different types of celebrations from managers. I myself reckon I'm like José Mourinho in the celebration department.

I will be getting into football manager in a minute, so hang one. Right, Mourinho. When my team scores goals against the big sides to get a big result I'll puff my cheeks out and shake my fists up an down. It's had to explain but it's reminiscent of Mourinho's celebration against Barcelona at the Nou Camp last season, yes, the one where he got the grass stains on that lovely, expensive suit of his.

Also, his infamous run to the corner flag at Old Trafford when he was at Porto. When I win penalty shoot-outs, and important ones, I do some running around jumping myself.

So, where am I going with this you ask? Well wouldn't it be nice to see yourself in that 2D match engine? Let's go really deep in to this aswell. Firstly, pick a colour suit for the game. Whether it's a slick black Armani suit, or a dark grey Mark Hughes looking suit, maybe even a purple Juande Ramos-esque suit.

After all, you have to look like you should be in this job.

Now, what next? Chosen a suit to wear. Now you walk out onto the pitch. Choose whether you want to sit in the dugout or stand on the touchline. It adds realism to the game, and everyone loves these really small details in Football Manager. You frequently see your players warming up on the touchline, what would be better than clicking on one of your players and they go run up the touchline for a few minutes, do their stretches in front of the fans.

Now. Let's go back to the celebrating the goals. When your team scores, choose to either stand on the touchline and applaud or run up to the corner flag to celebrate with your team. There could be a few options. Again, it's being over the top, not as over the top as choosing a suit to wear but it's these small details that us Football manager fans enjoy.

Oh, maybe choosing to jump around with your staff members in the dugout aswell, Alex Ferguson does that iirc. Actually, it would be really good to see some of your staff sit with you aswell, something else that adds to the realism.

Right, that was fun, but a rather long read and sadly I must go on. Stagnation. Old? Football Manager, what is old and has not changed much since it's release? In my opinion, not much has stayed the same, they (Sports Interactive) seem to update all aspects of Football Manager every new release. Maybe I'm misreading the question though, maybe I'm supposed to be explaining what has not changed and but should actually not be changed.

Well for one. The 2D match engine is great, and it's what I love most of the game, there is nothing better than seeing the ball hit the back of that 2D net and watching a few circles run after each other with a flashing rectangle below. It shouldn't be changed. There has been talk every release of implementing a 3D match engine. Well I say no, leave it as it is. There is no need to change it.

Anyway, before this gets to long I'll end it now. Thanks for reading and I hope it's been enjoyable for you.Football Manager: Innovation or Stagnation?.

Innovation
in·no·va·tion [in-uh-vey-shuhn"> Pronunciation Key
–noun 1. something new or different introduced: numerous innovations in the high-school curriculum.
2. the act of innovating; introduction of new things or methods.

Stagnation
stag·nate [stag-neyt"> Pronunciation Key verb (used without object), -nat·ed, -nat·ing.
1. to cease to run or flow, as water, air, etc.
2. to be or become stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water.
3. to stop developing, growing, progressing, or advancing: My mind is stagnating from too much TV.
4. to be or become sluggish and dull: When the leading lady left, the show started to stagnate.

–verb (used with object)
5. to make stagnant.

The two descriptions, found on dictionary.com, you can see above outline the two words featured in the title for those of you who don’t fully understand them. One of those people may be me, but this is not up for discussion as I am the one talking, and you are the one reading. I usually find it hard to start articles off, but this one seems to be going rather well, keep going Dutton, stop talking jibberish and tell the nice readers the ideas that popped into your head in reference to the title. Ok.

Innovation, for the most part, is certainly a good thing in consideration with the gaming industry. The idea of new versions of games being brought out with more features, fiddly bits and pixelated madness than your brain could manage is just lovely. Every single year since the first Football Manager, back in 2005, SI have managed to do this, and to a successful standard. From new tactical options, to team talks, improved scouting and the ability to alter your club’s finances, innovation is an area SI seem to pride themselves on these days. The reason they have done is due to demand, us the football manager gaming world want more, more, more, more, more, more and more until we could just play football manager every single day until we’ve not eaten for three weeks, not changed underwear for four and not seen any sunlight for six. I personally wouldn’t recommend this route as you’re underpants would start to go hard and may leave you with a nasty rash, I saw a documentary. Why do we want more though? Surely the current game we have, which we spend almost everyday playing, is good enough? Do we really need more? I don’t think it’s down to a feeling of need, more of a feeling of want. Everything can always be improved, but on the flip side, don’t fix something that isn’t broken….

..which leads me into the stagnation aspect of FM (that’s Football Manager for those unfamiliar with simple acronyms). Championship Manager 4 unleashed something completely new to the Eidos/SI gaming series, a 2D match engine. This is quite possibly the greatest new feature in the games history, going all the way back to Championship Manager 1. The idea was a massive step up, the running text commentary on screen certainly seemed to be working just fine and the idea of stagnating this simple feature was still bringing in big money for a game which didn’t involve a lot of graphics, something that can’t be said for most video games today. Innovation took over and the 2D match engine was born, and luckily for the two gaming companies, it worked like a charm. So why don’t we progress to 3D? Both words at the top of the page come in here. Stagnating the current basic themes of the game surely plays it safe for SI, not only the match engine but the attributes system, the tactics screen, the player squad screen and the transfers screen are all extremely similar to that of which was produced with Championship Manager 4, among other features. These work, SI have absolutely no reason to change them and so they shouldn’t. Other features such as training screens, the home page and scouting reports have changed massively, and all I can say is that it’s only for the better. There’s a reason for this though, there was room for improvement. But I hear you say “there’s always room for improvement?”

It’s very hard to judge whether something needs improving when you’re enjoying a game so much. SI seem to enjoy innovation though, and it often leaves problems in terms of release. The idea of new features, up to date transfers and a shiny new instruction booklet seems all too much to wait for, and gamers just want to snap up the game as soon as they possibly can. SI have often been rushed into producing their games, leaving patches desperately needed. Innovation is all well and good, but if the game they are bringing out is suffering because of it, leave it out SI. I can’t really reach a conclusion on whether innovation is good or bad, and the same goes for stagnation. The idea that most of the game stays the same and that little things are improved or created seems to be the way to go in my opinion, and I feel that SI are working in this direction too. Since the large innovative idea of a match engine, they have stagnated most of the ideas within the game and innovated here and there.

Lets just hope they do it all next time, without needing three patches to keep out the bloody bugs