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Playing “Moneyball” on EA FIFA 16

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Re: Playing “Moneyball” on EA FIFA 16

#12
This is a great experiment for computer vs computer simulations. When I played FIFA, I tried to buy cheap players with properties that worked well with my playing abilities. For me, at least until FIFA14 (did not try beyond that), a player's speed had the most net positive in my scoring ability and I used to buy the fastest yet cheaper players instead of buying a really skilled but slow players[1].

[1] http://fifabeast.com/top-50-fastest-players-in-fifa-14-overa...

Re: Playing “Moneyball” on EA FIFA 16

#13
post #4

Consider doing this "Moneyball" experiment using Football Manager [1] games. Those games are made for soccer/football management simulation. And your "Moneyball" kind of playthrough is called LLM (Lower League Management) in the FM community. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager

This is the ultimate simulation game. This is the one game that taught me so much about simulations and my current job and interest in simulators.

The number of ways I could affect a match was insane. It was great to understand the game and second guess how to beat the opponent (which meant studying the opponent's form, tactics, key players, injuries besides your own).

I created excel sheets of players that I would scout and make averages of key attributes (like Pace, Dribbling, Heading, Finishing). These averages decided my player purchase decisions.

With FM2007, I think I took Hull City from being a scrappy team to a team of Real Madrid's caliber within 5 years and then maintained that till season 2018. I could've gone further but memory leaks caused the game to go slow.

I spent years of my childhood playing this. Could I have learned something more productive in that same time period? Yes.

Do I regret studying this game inside out? No way.

Re: Playing “Moneyball” on EA FIFA 16

#14
Weird aside, even though it's fictional I'm pleased to see that young Ryan Gauld (who went to my school) in his Moneyball'd team. It's rare for Scottish players to play on the continent - he's currently making his way through the ranks at Sporting Lisbon. It feels like our brightest prospects either settle down at Celtic/Rangers (big fish in a small pond, less so nowadays since Rangers' relegation), languish in mid-table Premiership teams or switch nationality and play for Ireland!

Re: Playing “Moneyball” on EA FIFA 16

#16
Does anyone have a recommendation on an online course or tutorial that walks you through doing this type of applied analysis in R? I prefer learning using actual problems, where the complexity of analysis increases gradually.

Re: Playing “Moneyball” on EA FIFA 16

#17
post #13
post #4

Consider doing this "Moneyball" experiment using Football Manager [1] games. Those games are made for soccer/football management simulation. And your "Moneyball" kind of playthrough is called LLM (Lower League Management) in the FM community. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager

This is the ultimate simulation game. This is the one game that taught me so much about simulations and my current job and interest in simulators. The number of ways I could affect a match was insane. It was great to understand the game and second guess how to beat the opponent (which meant studying the opponent's form, tactics, key players, injuries besides your own). I created excel sheets of players that I would s…

I can totally relate to the impact of FM on my life. I'm CTO of Workshape.io and some of our UI elements were inspired by the interface that was present in some of the older versions of Football Manager and Championship Manager. The concept of the radial plot for comparing player's skills was an idea we applied to our matching service.

To echo the parent poster's comment. It would be very cool to extend this blog into a series and see an analysis like this applied to the most recent version of Football Manager.

Re: Playing “Moneyball” on EA FIFA 16

#18
post #4

Consider doing this "Moneyball" experiment using Football Manager [1] games. Those games are made for soccer/football management simulation. And your "Moneyball" kind of playthrough is called LLM (Lower League Management) in the FM community. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager

I think this is a good concept, but like all games, it just succumbs to exploiting imbalances. In Football Manager, its just finding all the Uber Wunderkids who can easily be bought for less than the lowest rated players in their prime. Then you just invest all of your money in coaching/facilities who can also be bought for significantly cheaper than adult players and in a few years, once the players hit like 18-19, you have a world class team that only continues to improve as they reach 25-26. Give it 5-6 years and your team is like a team of Ronaldos and Messi's at every position.

Re: Playing “Moneyball” on EA FIFA 16

#19
post #4

Consider doing this "Moneyball" experiment using Football Manager [1] games. Those games are made for soccer/football management simulation. And your "Moneyball" kind of playthrough is called LLM (Lower League Management) in the FM community. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager

Or "Out Of The Park Baseball," which is a management game that is about to release their new version, which includes over 100 years of minor league rosters. Now that's Moneyball-friendly data.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/6/11169526/ootp-baseball-17-mi...

Re: Playing “Moneyball” on EA FIFA 16

#20
post #11

In case anyone is wondering why the goal was to "win the Champions League with Accrington Stanley" in particular, it's because they've been a byword for being complete nobodies since this milk advert came out in 1989: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pieK7b4KLL4

I don't get it, why does he want to play for a team he's never heard of?
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