Best on-line manager game

[mundial]

Which on-line management game do you find the best? I started this poll before the big crash, but the discussion didn't really have a chance to get off the ground. Curious as to what other BS users play the most.

[mundial]

First of all, let me say that the poll would only allow me to put 6 options, so there is no 'other', and I'm sure there are other games out there.

Also, let me say that I have yet to pay for a game, and that I doubt I'm going to spring for anything soon. Free is good.

Hattrick - most-used and probably most competitive. I really like this game. I am just starting to figure it out after 6 months though.

It's a Goal - relatively simple, but I like the stadium features, match reports, and transfer market

Manager Zone - Just started this one. Seems complex and borrows a lot from Hattrick (both Swedish). I'll see how it goes.

Sunday League - Too silly for me. I quit after a season.

True Manager - I never got into this one either. I think the mix of reality and 'your own team' is something best left to...Championship Manager

World Elite Soccer - tactically complex! This is probably my second favorite, right up there with Hattrick. Good community too.

Anyone else?

[SoccerAddict]

WES is, by far, my favorite online manager game. Hattrick and Sunday League are the only 2 others that I've tried though. Sunday League was a joke - I only lasted a week.

I became bored with Hattrick - I'm dropping my Series III team after 3 seasons. Hattrick could have been hockey, baseball, cricket, or whatever... Everyone plays the same formation and tries to get the best midfielders possible. No tactical strategy required. Too much emphasis on finances.

WES is great. I've just finished my 4th season. The game involves lots of tactics and strategy. The ability to trade players with other managers makes for a nice interactive community. The game is still being developed and gets better every season.

[kcwizmojo]

is hat trick free?

[mundial]

Yes,

Hattrick is free, though you can also sign up for Supporter, for $16 a year, which has extra features, but you can have some success without supporter too, which is nice.

Nick

[mundial]

Bump

[mundial]

one more time

[Matteo]

^

[MLS3]

I've tried Hattrick, World Elite Soccer and Sunday League...and now I'm only in World Elite Soccer (WES)...Hattrick was too boring, everything was midfield, midfield, midfield...and I hear they have gotten away from that so I joined again but before I even got my team just decided why bother, it takes time and theres no payoffs...Sunday League was a complete joke, I even took the time to name all my players then my team crashed like 4 days later and sent all the players back to original names and the league and game sucked, I just liked naming my players, hah...but i quit that...I'm still in WES have been for the past 5 seasons...Its got 300 something teams, and you get to know most all managers who they manage, all the players in the 8 leagues, etc...whos who, there is a chat that alot of people go into, everyone is friendly and we got some rivalries also...I just like how its a controller environment, theres not 50 million teams, you get know all the teams, players and the managers and that helps for getting your team good as well as having a good time, I know teams that lose season after season and still have a great time, just because of the community feel to the game...Plus the creators of the game add 1 to 2 big features along with numerous amounts of small features each and every season, the game keeps getting better and better..

[PFSIKH]

I am in WES and it is great. The only other soccer game I play is MLFS. It is nice, but once the hot players are discovered it is next to impossible to mount a comeback.

As MLS3 said, they continually make improvements to WES. Plus, they will listen to your suggestions and implment them when the programming aspect is figured out. I am in my 4th season and have enjoyed it immensely.

This is not a knock on hatrick, but when I found it (after joining WES), it did not seem that appealing.

[Lone Star]

Different strokes for different folks I guess, but I definately prefer Hattrick to WES. I tried WES for a while last summer, but just lost interest after a month or so. People complain about Hattrick being too simple, well I found WES to be too technical in a brain-surgery kind of way.

I've played Hattrick for 15 months now. There's a lot more to the game then people think. It's not just midfield, midfield, midfield (at least not like it was), and it's not devoid of strategy. Sure, build up your midfield all you want, but you WON'T go far without support players. Weather, skill levels, form, injuries, age, formation, specialties, opponent's strengths and weaknesses, match of the season, play it cool, team spirit, confidence, home/away (to name a few variables) all come into play for every match. More so the higher up you progress since everyone becomes more evenly matched.

I also enjoy watching the team that I created from the ground up (name, logo, stadium, colors, etc) get better and better. In my 5th season I finally won my series (but didn't advance to Div II) and made it to the USA Cup Round of 16. I also like the community that's developed on the Hattrick forums, America bashing and all. It's just a fun game, and my personal choice for the best out there. I actually become a Supporter and get to enjoy all the extras.

Who knows, had I discovered WES first it might have been different. Oh, and for the record I've also tried Sunday League, True Manager, SoccerSim, and Internet Football Club........

Chris
Panther City FC
III.1

http://www.geocities.com/gollum1197/LoneStarCup.html

[Elwood]

Got to agree with LoneStar.

Hattrick is definitely #1 with me, though sometimes it's very frustrating. Definitely more to it than midfield.

My experience was first with www.soccersim.com (now pay and under different management) and then sundayleague. I liked soccersim, but sundayleague I just kind of abandoned. Then I found Hattrick. Definitely the #1 community of them all (I think it's even better than Championship Manager's community, though there's obvious differences, as it's a web-only game, with no program to modify, etc).

The next game I found was WES, and while I still have my team (Beijing), I rarely log in and happened to log in Sunday morning to see I was 4-1-1 without logging in since the season had started (or changing my lineup from last season)!!! Of course all my guys are currently pretty beat up, but 2nd place without even setting a lineup (I got relegated last season due ot not paying much attention) doesn't say a whole lot.

Itsagoal has potential, and I'm sticking with it, but the league structure is terrible! I know they wanted to change it for the current season, and now plans are for the next (starting next week or the week after, right?), but if they don't change it fast, I'll soon tire of promoting from divisions with only 3-6 actives (out of 20). Won 420 and 419, and am leading 418 with 1 match to go, though to be fair I've finally found someone else who's trying (we're tied with 1 match to go, drawing each of our matches). But likely we'll both just move through 417 next season unless the changes happen.

ManagerZone looks to have potential. At first it appears to be a total rip-off of Hattrick (and it's been mentioned to me from some HT higher-ups that it might be, and there might be legal proceedings in the future), but it's not. Training is different, youth work differently, coaching is different, there are more friendlies, but also there are more 'pay-only' features. From an outsider's perspective, I'd say someone played Hattrick (in it's midfield days) and took what was good and changed what they (and many others) thought needed changing. But since the match engine is completely different, I can't really agree that it's a rip-off, since that's the main feature.

For any Hattrickers that are curious about the differences, here they are:

1. Match engine totally different. Not really sure how it DOES work, but at least on the surface it's not that similar to Hattrick's. A bit too much detail, but the guys seem genuinely interested in making it better.

2. Training - you can individually train players.

3. Youth - you set aside an amount of cash each week, and based on how much you spend, you get a certain # of youth (who draw no wages, but do cost weekly) to train. Sometime when players are 18 (or 19?) they get moved to the full-time squad. All 5 of mine are 16 or 17, currently.

4. Coaches - you can have multiples, and dedicate them to training particular skills. In player stats, each skill gets a certain amount of 'balls', which equal levels. Say a player has 3 'balls' in passing. If you put him training passing, and put a coach with him, and the coach has more than 3 'balls', he'll help speed up improvement. From what I've gathered, more than 4 players in an area (or is it 4 players with a coach?) slows training a bit, and once a player levels, it's best to switch his training.

5. Formations - there are no preset formations. You place players like in Championship Manager. Depending on where you place them, you'll get reported 3-5-2, 3-4-3, 4-4-2, etc, but the players stay where you put them. Also you have options such as 'use wings', 'offensive', 'defensive' and such.

Overall, the site is a bit slower than Hattrick's (HT's layout is easily the best, simple and to the point, similar to soccersim's old one while still free), but it's not bad. Itsagoal has incredible lag at times, and WES is sometimes slow, as well.

Not sure where MZ will rate, but I'm guessing between Hattrick and Itsagoal. What kills WES for me is there are SO MANY numbers and NO financial controls. It's like a weaker implementation of CM's rating system. But I'm keeping my WES team active since the developers are the most active of any of the games, and make good improvements constantly.

[mundial]

Anyone else frustrated with failure to re-org the divisions in time for this season! Aargh! It'sagoal is dropping for me fast.

[jon_doe]

can someone please list the urls to these games so that i may check them out? thank you.

[Lone Star]

Hattrick can be found at:

http://www.hattrick.org/English

Hope you join up!

Panther City FC
USA
III.1

[mundial]

Originally posted by jon_doe
can someone please list the urls to these games so that i may check them out? thank you.

World Elite Soccer - www.worldelitesoccer.com
It's A Goal - www.itsagoal.com

Someone else will have to verify Manager Zone and True Manager, but I think True Manager is just www.truemanager.com

There is a link to one of many Sunday League servers on this site, at the top of this forum.

Hattrick rules. WES is a close second. IMHO.

Nick

[radiokvar]

I checked out WES after reading it here in this post and applied for a team, didn't take more than maybe 10 days on the waitlist until i got one. I have been enjoying it quite a bit since, thanks for the tip. If any of you play it and feel like a friendly vs someone who you will most likely kill my team is europe north division 2 Odense Gaurdian Knights.

[mundial]

I have decided this game is a waste of my time. The rest of you who play, enjoy. Let me know if it gets any better once division re-org occurs.

Nick

[Playable Back]

truemanager and WES are good....but I don't have time to keep up with them.
I ejoyed soccersim immensely, too.

[bringbacksoccersim]

Out of the games available to vote for, Managerzone is the best in my opinion.

But I haven't voted for it, because it will never be the best online soccer management game that existed. SoccerSim was far better. I still play Managerzone today, but only because SoccerSim finished :(