Hope this isn't too far out of left-field, but was hoping to enlist someone's help for this project, which may indicate that I have too much free time on my hands. Hopelessly addicted to Winning Eleven 7 (the superb PS2 footy game), I've just about compiled a season's worth of stats for my team, including player conditions and their individual game rankings; passes; crosses; dribbles; tackles; intercepts; shots-on-goal; possession, etc., etc. I'd like someone's help to run a basic stats analysis and see what, if anything, comes up with regard to the characteristics of winning squads and if there are any correlations between the factors outlined above. Hopefully, I'd be able to provide the raw data in a format of your choice. Might be fun to examine results -- perhaps all the answers we're looking for reside in the game code of a PS2 footy game.
Id love to help but I don't really have the skills to do that. If you're a fan of the Winning Eleven series though you should check out the Games forum, lots of those types over there. .
What form is the data in, and what questions do you want to address? And do you have data on your opponents' as well?
How do stats in a video game have any bearing on real footy? You're talking about almost completely different games here.
I created a stat sheet for each player and the team as a whole, which I fill out after each game. For opponents, I only have team data as a whole -- their shots-on-goal, possession, corners and "compact formation" stat. Elninho -- what bearing on real footy? Absolutely none. On the other hand, the game is frightenly realistic -- it's not your average video game, and was developed by hardcore footballers. One has to have a real knowledge of tactics, formations, passing & build-up, opponents strengths, striker duos, etc., in order to master it at the highest levels. Just like real footy. I maintain that a summary of results, based on a basic stats analysis, would yield an interesting 30-sec read.
I've often wondered what kind of value would come from looking at the stats from these kind of almost statistical based games. I liked your line about some kind of greater knowledge being based in the game code for ps2. Obviously there's not going to be any sort of real life correlation, at the same time in terms of what we try to do around here people who play Championship Manager type games might be interested in statistical analysis of real games in order to improve themself in a video game. I could envision a scenerio where people who are into CM or Winning 11 might be interested in this stuff in the same way SABR types got into it because of roto baseball leagues.