This article is a reflection on my college experience playing Football Manager (FM) and whether it was a waste of time or a valuable experience and lesson learnt.
There is a saying that these are the ‘three devil’s games’. It refers to three common games that, apart from being fun, can be very addictive and have a serious impact on your life. Some people refer to them as games that make you lose track of time, because once you start playing them, you can’t stop and by the time you look at the clock or calendar, you’ve already lost a lot of time.
While everyone’s assessment of three of these games may vary, there are two that are universally acknowledged as ‘the devil’s three’: the ‘Civilization’ series and the ‘Football Manager’ (FM) series. I got my hands on FM in the summer of 2011, and so began my journey through time.
First of all, it’s important to clarify what a game called ‘FM’ is. It’s not just a football game, it’s a simulation game that puts you in the role of a football manager and lets you manage your own football team. While other soccer games usually let you control the players in a single match, ‘FM’ lets you run a whole season in real life, with all the complexities of managing a club, signing players, managing coaches, and creating game strategies based on real data. Moreover, it makes you forget about the passage of time as you move on to the next season immediately after the season ends. It’s a game that makes it easy to lose track of time.
I didn’t have any big plans for the break after the spring semester of my sophomore year. I had no travel plans, no girlfriend, and I wasn’t thinking about the future. One day during this lethargic time, I suddenly realised that I needed something fun to do. That’s how I found out about ‘FM’ and ended up installing it on my laptop.
Upon starting the game, I chose Manchester City FC from the English Premier League. With the support of owner Mansour, a Middle Eastern oil tycoon and UAE royalty, I was able to buy players without worrying about money, and the game’s difficulty level was very easy. As I racked up victory after victory and built my reputation, I became increasingly indistinguishable from reality. The simple controls – just pressing the space bar to play a match – meant that fatigue was not a factor, and my day became increasingly consumed by the game.
I maintained a regular routine of going to the gym and meeting up with friends, but ‘FM’ remained at the centre of my life. As the weeks passed, I looked at the calendar and saw that it was mid-July. I had a brief moment of crisis, but I ignored it and immersed myself in the game. While I was pleased with my achievements in the game, my real life was becoming more and more tattered. My parents called me a ‘wreck’, and even I had to admit it.
By the beginning of August, I began to realise that I needed to change. After more than a month of being a football coach, devising tactics and managing players, I decided it was time to stop playing. I gradually reduced my gaming time so that I could come to my senses before the new school year started in September. I thought I would have to delete the game from my computer to stop playing it completely, but I gained enough self-control to stop playing it without deleting it.
After I stopped playing, I would still see the players running in my head, but I didn’t feel too much regret, because I had achieved almost everything in the game, so I didn’t have too many regrets. Over time, I’ve learnt a lot from this experience.
First, I realised how easy it is to waste time. While I was immersed in the game, I was losing precious real-world time, which didn’t matter at the time, but it made me realise how dangerous it is to not prepare for the future. I still regret the time I spent during my school holidays, but on the flip side, I also learnt a lot from it.
Now that I’m graduating and living a busy life, the memories of those days have become precious to me. I miss the freedom and irresponsibility that I can never get back. But at the same time, I think the experience has made me value the present more and live harder. I’ve come to realise that we all have times when we’re idle, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Nevertheless, I have no intention of installing ‘FM’ again. Because although the game has brought me a lot of fun and lessons, it has also cost me precious time. Perhaps I should thank the game for making me think about this.
