Managerzone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Managerzone is a massively-multiplayer online sports club management simulator. It has around 615,736 registered users as of October 7, 2006[1]. Its major rival is Hattrick with 915,000 registered users[2].
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[edit] Organisation
The game's parent company, Managerzone AB, was founded by Swedish entrepreneur Johan Christenson in Karlskrona, Sweden in 2001, with the game proper launching with the first competitive matches taking place on May 17. Since then, Managerzone has grown to its current proportions competing from 100 countries. It currently maintains its headquarters in Karlskrona but also has major offices in Newark, Delaware, United States, in Brazil and in Beijing.
Managerzone can be played without cost for the individual user, since it is free to sign up and get a team. The free part of the game allows the user to play league matches twice a week and friendly matches the rest of the week. Fees are extracted for joining cups, joining friendly leagues and watching matches in anything other then text mode.
[edit] Hierarchy
The game is primarily run by the senior management staff known by their in-game moniker of Crew. They, in turn, have recruited a set of volunteers from the more experienced users, known as the Assistants, who deal with the day-to-day running of the game, dealing with technical support issues, and tending to the forums. There are several grades of Assistant:
Level 1: *Master Game Assistant (MA): The most senior Game Assistant in their country or region, responsible for hiring and firing other Assistants.
Level 2: *Game Assistant (GA): The main workforce amongst the Assistants, the GA's primary role is to uphold the rules of the game, discipline cheaters, and deal with enquiries and render support to other users.
Level 3: *Forum Assistant (FA): Maintain order on the forums and enforce rules, editing posts to remove attacks and obscenity where needed.
Level 3: *Language Assistant (LA): Improve the translation of Managerzone into different languages.
Level 3: *Reporting Assistant (RA): Produce articles for and publish the in-game magazine, The Zone.
The term "level" is not commonly used in the game, but is used here to clarify where in the hierarchy each assistant is.
[edit] International availability
[edit] Leagues
Although Managerzone was initially launched only in Sweden, the success of the game allowed new countries to be rapidly added. Managerzone is currently available in the following 49 countries. Users are permitted to join the game from other nations; they are now put into an invented "MZ Country" (shown on the World Map as a hectagonal island in the Indian Ocean). Previously, China was separate from other nations in Managerzone, but it is now integrated; see Managerzone in China below.
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Wales.
[edit] Languages
Managerzone is available in the following languages:
Bosnian, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish.
[edit] Managerzone Football
Managerzone's primary sport is football. The main aspect of ManagerZone which sets it apart from all other on-line football management games is the 3D Match Simulator, which allows for watching matches in real time in full virtual representation in your browser on your pc. The unique football tools available, the 3D match engine and the graphic analyser, allow the participant to watch the actual Live match, providing a more entertaining and informative experience.
[edit] The club
Each user is provided, upon registration, with the basic foundation of a potentially successful squad of 19 players, a budget of 240 000 GBP, a stadium for 8,000 spectators (until recently it was a stadium for 2,000 spectators after the removal of the activation fee-in the course of 2005) including facilities such as pubs and restaurants, and placed in the lowest league in its pyramid (see League system below). The object of the game is to win matches and achieve promotion to a higher league. This is generally accepted to be performed by training players - both senior players and youths, improving and building upon the club's stadium and increasing finances through match attendance and Cup performances as well as utilising the occasionally lucrative transfer market, winning matches and hopefully progressing upward through the League system.
[edit] Players
Each player has a total of 13 attributes, which can be improved by training. The skills are rated between zero and ten and represented pictographically by footballs; players are often referred to in such terms e.g. an "8 ball keeper" or a "7 ball striker". Players can however "max" at a skill, which means it cannot gain any more balls by training for that skill. This is possible to occur from 4 or more balls.
- Speed
- Stamina
- Play intelligence
- Passing
- Shooting
- Header
- Goalkeeping
- Ball control
- Tackling
- Cross balls
- Set plays
- Experience
- Form
Each player draws a weekly salary from the club's finances. That sum is determined partly by the age and experience of the player as well as his ability (the number of "balls" he possesses) and where applicable, by the transfer fee that was paid to acquire him.
Players can be bought and sold on the transfer market. Players who are to be transferred are placed on the market for an auction of one, two or three days, the player going to the highest bidding club (or remaining at his original club if there are no bids). There is a fee charge to the seller of 1.5% of the player's asking price and taxes due based upon the profit.
[edit] League system
Managerzone employs a pyramidal league system loosely based on that of the existing English league. Each country has a separate pyramid, in which league has 12 teams, playing each other twice in the course of a season, resulting in 22 matches, played every Sunday and Wednesday. (Sometimes Saturday in some busier countries.) Before season 17 the old league structure had only 8 teams per division. At the end of the season, the top team in each league earns a trophy and is promoted to a higher league. The bottom three teams are relegated to a lower tier. To maintain this, each tier must have three times as many divisions as the one above. This ensures that even new members in the most-subscribed countries are only a maximum of nine steps from their respective Top League.
- Top league: 1 league (12 teams)
- Division 1: 3 league (36 teams)
- Division 2: 9 leagues (108 teams)
- Division 3: 27 leagues (324 teams)
- Division 4: 81 leagues (972 teams)
- Division 5: 243 leagues (2,916 teams)
- Division 6: 729 leagues (8,748 teams)
- Division 7: 2,187 leagues (26,244 teams)
- Division 8: 6,561 leagues (78,732 teams)
- Division 9: 19,863 leagues (238,356 teams)
The notation for each division uses the Division number, a dot and then the subdivisional number. For example, the 20th league in division 3 would be 3.20.
[edit] Promotion/Relegation System
Before season 17, the promotion system was changed from one team being promoted and three relegated per division to a more complex system. It's components are as follows:
First, all inactive and suspended teams are relegated to the bottom of the pyramid.
Second, the first place team is promoted and the bottom three teams are relegated.
Third, qualification groups are formed. They are made up of the 8th and 9th place teams of the higher division and the 2nd and 3rd place teams of the lower divisions, and they play off in two groups. The winner of each group is then promoted (or keeps its place).
If there are spots because of inactivity or suspension, then teams are moved up from the division below to fill the spots.
Each division corresponds to a division above it and divisions below it. For example, Division 2.1 feeds into 1.1, and 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 feed into 2.1.
[edit] Cups
A number of cup competitions are run, sometimes simultaneously, throughout the course of the season. At the cost of 1 EUR or equivalent, a manager can buy a place in that competition. Cup competitions take two forms:
[edit] Group play
This format is similar to the UEFA Champions League. Teams are divided randomly into groups of teams, usually 4-5, and face each other team twice. The top team at the conclusion of each group proceed into the playoff phase.
[edit] Playoff format
Some cup competitions have no group stage and instead proceed immediately to a single-elimination format until a winner can be determined.
Recently, there have been moves to improve cup competitions to allow managers of smaller clubs to have a chance of performing well in a cup. This is mostly done by creating cups which have limited participation restrictions, including:
- Excluding teams from Sweden, which are generally much stronger than others
- Inviting only teams from a certain country or geographical region
- Inviting only teams from a certain division
- Inviting only teams that started playing in the same season
[edit] Friendly Leagues
A friendly league is a separate competition, created by a manager on an invite-only basis. They can include between 4 and 16 teams, and also cost 1 EUR or equivalent to join. Friendly league games have almost no "canon"; for example injuries occurring in a Friendly League are not inflicted on the player. Teams may also participate in Friendly League games at the same time as other such games, or even at the same time as cup games.
[edit] International football
Managerzone also has international football competitions, a feature launched in 2004 with the first Managerzone World Cup. At present, the World Cup is held yearly; the 2004 World Cup was won by Sweden, 2005 by Argentina, and by Greece in 2006.
The national manager is elected by a first past the post system in an election lasting around a month, just before the beginning of the World Cup. Any manager from a given country is eligible for election.
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the international game; the national manager (and their chosen assistant) are able to see the skills of any player from their country, information they could use to the advantage of their club side. There has also been complaints that there is not enough depth and interest in the international game, which has led to the resignation of many of the international managers.
[edit] User interaction
Managerzone has an extensive forum system for each of its languages where players discuss their performance, request friendly matches, bring up support issues and suggestions, and an off-topic forum, all maintained by the Forum Assistants.
In addition, most countries produce a version of the in-game magazine The Zone, published weekly in the major countries but more sporadically in others.
[edit] Managerzone Hockey
Originally just a football simulator, the creators diversified to create a similar simulator for ice hockey, announced in 2003. The mechanics of the game are very similar, only with the rules of ice hockey applied, and some of the players' attributes replaced to be relevant with the sport. Although its launch was much heralded, the addition has not been overly popular; in some countries, there is barely a hockey competition of note.
[edit] Managerzone Racing
Managerzone's third sport was announced in late 2003 as motor racing. Although originally timetabled for a mid-2004 launch; however, problems with the football simulator and the comparative lack of success of hockey have put development of racing on indefinite hiatus.
[edit] Managerzone in China
With support from Fujian Newland Network Ltd., Managerzone entered the Chinese market with a public test in 2005, with competition beginning in earnest in the spring.
Managerzone China used to run on a separate server from the traditional Managerzone leagues, with no interaction between the two. The game in China was not divided internationally, instead with different regions having their own league systems; however, the game is otherwise identical to that played in the rest of the world. In the break between season 16 & 17 (January 2006), China was added to the international server as a whole country.
[edit] Similar Games
[edit] Acemasters
Managerzone has inspired a tennis game called Acemasters that is based on similar principles, where you can manage your own tennis player. You can train this player and participate in tournaments in order to win the needed Masters Race points to climb on the rankings.
[edit] Hattrick
Hattrick (also known internally simply as HT) is an online, browser-based, football management game (MMOG) developed and based in Sweden.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Managerzone
- Unofficial English Managerzone FAQ
- Managerzone Show Player Tool
- Press Release about the launch of Managerzone China
- MZManager external support tool
- Managerzone Tips Website tool (Dutch)
- Managerzone database
- The Power Challenge Football website.(Another online soccer game that uses the technology of Managerzone)
