What is it about Football Manager (the game) which makes it more addictive than crack ?

Even though these days it is over-complicated and rock-hard ? I'm not much of a computer gamer - the only games I've played since I was 19 are Championship Manager (then FM when it changed name) and John Madden Football (also still going).

I've only bothered with a couple of attempts at FM 2007 as I found it extremely frustrating - nothing seemed to work, at least not consistently, and got fired each time after one or two seasons. Last night I was bored and picked up my third attempt, where I was facing relegation and votes of confidence in my first season. I limped to a 17th place finish and thought I'd start a new season.

Suddenly I'm top of the division after 11 games, Earnies got 10 goals, I'm hardly conceding and my team of Marshall, Drury, Shackell, Colin, Otsemobor, Warnock, Brellier, Kavanagh, Hucks, Earnie and Brooker (subs Gallacher, Maccarone, B. Jones, A. Song, Croft) are ripping up the division.

And once again, the frustration disappears and I can hardly put the game down.

How do they manage to make this game so bloody addictive ?! At some point, surely, they will overdo the detail and it will lose its popularity but it must have been one of the best selling games every year since about 1990 I'd imagine.

Somebody has made a LOT of money out of that!

Posted By: Steve in Holland, Aug 8, 08:58:54