FIFA Scripting, Handicapping and Momentum – Why It Doesn’t Exist

FIFA Scripting, Handicapping and Momentum – Why It Doesn't Exist

 
 

We are extremely proud to announce that we’ve teamed up with crlarsen, owner of futfacts.com, a FIFA Ultimate Team website dedicated to people who prefer knowing over believing. There are no many people writing as well about FIFA as he does. This is a great addition to our team, that will help us to improve the quality texts of our website. Enjoy this amazing article where he explains why FIFA scripting, handicapping and momentum don’t exist.


 
 

FIFA Scripting, Handicapping and Momentum

 

No other topic has stirred as much controversy in the FIFA community as scripting aka handicapping aka momentum. Despite the lack of evidence supporting it, the assertion that EA deliberately manipulates matches for whatever reason has become widely accepted as fact.

It’s not a secret that I have been a skeptic from the start, and despite my ongoing attempts to challenge my own views, my further investigations haven’t made me change my mind. In the following sections, I would like to elaborate on what makes me so certain that scripting, handicapping and momentum are myths.

 
 

There are Better Explanations

Let’s be very clear about something: I do not deny that FIFA contains loads of annoyances. Whether it’s 90th minute equalizers, losing- and even relegation streaks, inconvenient graphics glitches and the likes, I have seen them all. So, don’t waste your time posting video evidence confirming these things as fact.

But the mere fact that these things happen doesn’t lead to the conclusion that they happen because EA is manipulating matches deliberately. This ought to be common sense.

Before we even start thinking about foul play as a possible cause, we effectively need to rule out other possibilities. And the fact is that we can’t. On contrary, all the phenomena I just mentioned have perfectly viable, natural explanations. So, why even consider foul play?

 
 

The Opponent

A recurring element in many FIFA scripting posts around the internet is a somewhat optimistic assessment of one’s own skills combined with a lack of recognition of the opponent’s abilities.

As an example, take a look at this survey where people were asked to assess their own skill level relative to others taking the same survey. 70 % thought they were above average. This illustrates that people just aren’t realistic about their own capabilities relative to their opponents.

Having said that, it’s an undeniable fact that you sometimes lose despite being the better player. But here is the thing about football: This game isn’t about being better overall, having more possession or more shots. It’s about being better in those few situations that decide the match. You may beat a guy 9 times out of 10 and still lose the 10th match due to a brief lack of concentration. Tough luck, but that’s football and I see no reason to assume that this would be different in a football simulation like FIFA.

The lack of recognition of the opponent’s abilities is equally prevalent in matches where the opponent is the better player. When you follow the FIFA scripting debate, you will come across those posts where people complain about their players feeling clumsy, slow and sluggish when passing and shooting. Purportedly, the only, possible explanation to these feelings is – scripting, because as we all know, the opponent can’t make your players pas poorly etc.

Or so they say, because let’s be very clear here: The mere fact that your players feel sluggish or slow does not necessarily imply that they were slower or more sluggish than they used to.

The opponent obviously can’t make your players slower, clumsier or more sluggish per se, but he can make them feel as if they were.

Take as an example passing: It’s an inherent part of my game plan to attack the opponent’s ability to pass in the midfield. I believe that many other skilled players have worked that out as well. So, what I am telling you here is that yes, the opponent can definitely affect your ability to make successful passes. And if he is sufficiently better than you, it will feel exactly as if your players suddenly have forgotten how to pass.

So, when someone claims that his players felt worse, it indicates that they perhaps just haven’t realized how much damage a skilled opponent can do to your own game plan.

 
 

EA Doesn’t Have a Motive

The fact that there are better explanations around is not the only reason to reject the entire notion of FIFA scripting.

Another good reason is that there isn’t a credible motive. Companies do not just waste money bothering their paying customers for fun. A company like EA would never ever invest money into developing a concept like scripting unless there was a very certain business case at the end of the rainbow.

FIFA scripting believers have speculated about possible links between manipulation and EA making more money. The perhaps most popular belief is that EA manipulates matches in order to level the playing field and thereby make the game more attractive to bad players.

While it’s unquestionable that EA wants to create a multiplayer gaming experience where both players stand a chance of winning and losing, it’s unlikely that they would want to manipulate matches in order to achieve that goal.

First and foremost, think about all the people this would bother. Cheating your players like this is literally one of the most effective efforts to kill your own business, and game designers have known this for ages.

Second, EA definitely wants to give all players a fair chance in every match, but there are better ways than scripting to obtain that goal. We know that FUT seasons uses a concept known as Elo matchmaking. Elo matchmaking means that you are matched against opponents of similar skill. In other words, bad players don’t get matched against expert opponents. So, Elo matchmaking definitely serves the purpose of creating a level playing field, thereby removing the need to intervene artificially.

Third, despite EA’s aspirations, FUT matches aren’t particularly even. It’s a hard fact that ties and narrow wins are rare in FUT compared to real football. As a matter of fact, it can be established with certainty that FUT doesn’t have an unnatural surplus of 1-goal wins or draws given it’s overall goal ratio. In other words, we can rule out that matches are made more even than they normally would be.

With that, we can cross the “make matches even” motive from the list of possible motives. And the question is what other viable motives there are. I personally can’t think of any.

 
 

Why Keep it a Secret if it was True?

Let’s ignore that we already know that absolutely nothing supports the assertion that EA levels the playing field artificially in online FUT. Instead, let’s look at another title where EA does level the playing field artificially, namely Battlefield 1.

BF1 uses a concept sometimes known as adaptive difficulty in online multiplayer game modes. If either side is losing, they will be reinforced with a so-called behemoth to balance things out.

What’s notable about behemoths is that they are introduced completely openly and hence also with the consent of the involved players. Although people discuss when and how behemoths should be introduced, no one disputes the fairness of the concept as such.

Perhaps surprising, FIFA does make use of adaptive difficulty in certain offline modes. And, just like in BF1, it’s communicated openly:

FIFA Scripting, Handicapping and Momentum – Why It Doesn't Exist

This raises a question: If adaptive difficulty is present in FUT, then how come that EA are denying it? I simply don’t see a motive to keep this a secret in FUT but not in BF1 or for that matter in offline FIFA.

 
 

Even the Believers are Divided

A popular argument among FIFA scripting believers is that the majority believes in scripting, and therefore it must be true. This argument is logically flawed and it rests on a false premise.

The majority does not share the same view with regards to scripting. When you follow the debate closely, you will notice that FIFA scripting isn’t one, uniform belief but rather a broad range of ideas with little else in common than the belief in foul play. In fact, surveys have confirmed that scripting believers have very different and often contradictive ideas about what is going on. The fact that we refer to “it” with different terms like scripting, momentum and handicapping is a direct consequence of the division among the believers.

Apart from the fact that the majority doesn’t degree at any deeper level of substance, I find it necessary to state that there are many examples of beliefs, which not only are popular but also completely wrong.

 
 

Concluding Remarks

Let’s be scientific here for a moment. No evidence suggests that FIFA scripting exists, and there is no credible motive for EA to put it in or to keep it a secret if they did put it in. At the same time, all the phenomena usually associated with scripting have other explanations.

So, why the heck do people believe in this? It makes no sense.

 
 
 
 

50 thoughts on “FIFA Scripting, Handicapping and Momentum – Why It Doesn’t Exist”

  1. Realistic Player

    Worst gaming-propaganda ever.
    The answer is very simple. Developers need football game to be competitive for everyone. In order to motivate players, to keep buying in game-items hoping to be better. But the result are always partially rigged.

    MOTIVATION BEHIND SCRIPTING
    Pro Players- Feel the need to beat the game anyway, when the scripts turn against them.
    Moderate& Rookie Players- Feel like they can actually challenge other players. Dynamic Difficulty in a nutshell, keeping everyone interested.

    WHY KEEPING IT A SECRET?
    why would they admit they have a system to balance the game? The system that override players control to make it more interesting, that their game is being helped& cheated despite their skills. Anyone who buy this game would be furious.

  2. If anyone thinks streaks up and down don’t exist they’re kidding themselves honestly.

    I rarely ever sit in one division, one minute I’m streaming up the divisions next minute down. One minute everything I’m doing is golden next I can’t do anything right.

    I fail to believe that my skill level is changing that much, I consider myself an average player. Even the games I win are diss as fck haha beating someone who’s clearer as good if not better than me like 5-1 lol.

    Then for fifa to come out and say ‘that’s just football’ give me a break. Why does my skill change? It’s ridiculous.

  3. Shreyas Hadavale

    EA is soo scripted. I won 15 matches out of 17 and then all of a sudden went onto win 3 in the other 13. And i wasnt even complacent. And this has happened many times

  4. HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH – that makes me laugh out loud when someone says that there is no scripting. Мe and my bro played over 4000 matches and the game is more fixed than you can ever image, so many scripts, so many scenarios… and every year it becomes even worse.

    1. Its almost as if the writer of this article has never played Fifa. Literally couldnt be further away from the truth.

  5. Roberto Soares Toledo

    If you play with my Team you will definitely notice that there is something that makes my players worse than they really are and it varies from game to game. You can tell from minute 1 that you will have a bad game! Defenders running away from balls, easy passes missed, player go to the off sidelines when running the opposite directions etc. If it is EA intentionally or another reason like Internet connection is the secret yet to be revealed. For those skeptical I propose a Test to prove the existence of this external force that makes you play worse. Take the team from someone that is alleging being affected by handicap during that game, and try yourself to see if you can not seen something strange going on. I have been playing all kinds of FiFA and PES since late 90’s but I have never seen worse than FUT in fifa 18. the funny thing is that my internet connect has never been so good before. Right now I run 200mbs on a Lan/wired very stable connection.

  6. Scripting and momentum is real.one minute your on a 10 game winning streak then your on a 10 game losing streak and repeat.it’s to keep everyone interested in the game simple as that.the only people that argue against that fact (the rest of your comment was deleted)

  7. Why wouldn’t they script FIFA? I have played FIFA since the mega drive love them anyway the recent games I have lost to little kids not because they’re good but because my team performed poorly like they were forced and if a player is a good player what are the chances he will suddenly become awful and lose 5 nil plus ? Happens in these FIFA games I’ve seen it and there is no explanation for this scripting is plausible ie as most gamers now are young u can’t have them losing more than winning they won’t spend their parents money buying packs so make them win some then lose some so they think they need better players and the cycle continues EA have made FIFA games into a joke FIFA 13 is the last one I remember as being awesome sad but true well that’s my opinion on the matter

  8. The conspiracy nuts are the people who keep insisting scripting is not real.
    It has been proven scripting momentum exists over and over. There are dozens of videos and personal reports. The reality is the game’s basic programming has not changed. Why does scripting exist it goes back to when they wanted to make a game rather than a simulation so that “drama” exists. Why do they keep using it because it makes you never satisfied with your team so you continually buy FP.

  9. Ad 1) I see no evidence supporting the assertion that the leading team will start making more errant passes around the 75th minute. I find this very unlikely, though. We can most certainly rule out the notion that FUT as a mechanism making matches more even – other than Elo matchmaking, of course. If this was the case, we would see a significant amount of draws. But, as also stated above, this has already been refuted.

    Ad 2) I don’t agree with the premise that you can’t hold onto the ball for a full half. I know for a fact that I have done this in online FUT. You can, but since you primarily are matched against evenly skilled opponents, it will be difficult in most matches.

    Ad 3) I consider it very likely that more goals are scored while the clock is stopped at 90:00 than during any ordinary minute, but the primary reason for that is that “90:00” lasts several minutes. The more time, the more goals.

    Other than that, you argue that less goals ought to be scored towards the end of the match due to fatigue. I disagree with that line of reasoning. In real football, more goals are scored during the last quarter of either half than during any other quarter. There are many reasons for this: Fatigue means more errors, and as Jose Mourinho said, the team that makes fewer mistakes usually wins. Nerves towards the end of the match is another reason, and finally there are tactical changes. I see no reason why FUT would be different in any of these respects.

    > There is literally a trait called “Second Wind” in Pro Clubs where you player gets a burst of energy late in games. Do you really think EA didnt add that to other game modes? Seriously?

    Perhaps they did, but I do not see a surplus of late goals that isn’t accounted for by the explanations above.

    > But why is that players from all over the world have the same experiences?

    As stated in the last section of the article, it’s a fact that a lot of people say that they believe in things like scripting, but when you drill a bit deeper, it turns out that their beliefs aren’t similar. So, while I seriously hope that everyone experiences the same things, it’s a fact that people don’t believe the same things in regards to conspiracy theories like scripting, handicapping and momentum.

    > Especially when there is countless evidence.

    What evidence is there? I have asked this question many, many times, and I’m yet to see anything which would be considered evidence by normal standards.

    > Basically what you are saying is, we are experiencing the same anomalies, over and over again, in different iterations of FIFA, but scripting doesnt exist. We ALL just arent very good.

    I’m not saying that people aren’t good. What I am saying is:

    Not all scripting claims are related to anomalies. Many of the things that scripting believers complain about are perfectly normal in football, so why would the starting point assumption be that FIFA is different?

    Some scripting claims are related to anomalies, but the fact that something is an anomaly (like a ball passing through a body) doesn’t mean that there is foul play involved.

    > Which sounds more believable? Your view? Or that FIFA is scripting matches so that players are on a more even playing field so that the game doesnt turn in to keep away after a player goes up 1-0?

    Well, we know for a fact that EA isn’t scripting matched in order to make the playing field more even.

    What we do know is that FIFA uses a matchmaking algorithm called Elo matchmaking, whereby people with similar track records are more likely to be matched.

    But having said that, it’s also a fact that FIFA matches aren’t particularly even measured in goal difference.

    For a more extensive read on why I rule match leveling out, take a look at the article below:

    https://futfacts.com/2015/11/02/are-matches-made-even/

  10. Came across this article because I was just relegated from the first division in seasons move for the first time since FIFA 16. Its safe to say, I am a pretty good player who usually ends each year in the top 100 ranked players.

    With that being said, FIFA is absolutely scripted and it has been happening for a while. Ill provide a few examples.

    1. Near the end of a close match, around the 75th min and lets say 3-2, the winning players team will begin making more errant passes, while the loser will be more accurate with his passes, shooting and tackles. This is been happening in FIFA since 2009. And it happens EVERY close match, not just once in a while. Test it out and you’ll see.

    I was literally up 4-2 against a player who had 9 men. He beat 5-4 and scored 3 goals after the 77th minute. On 3 shots. 2 from outside the box. He shouldnt have even be able to build up, let alone score. But guess what? I couldnt get the ball out of my own half because of scripting and after the 4-4 goal to tie, I kicked off, and guess what? I made an errant pass that lead to him scoring within 3 passes. After the match, I looked at his record, and the guy was 10 games over .500. Meanwhile, I am 144-31-59. With multiple league titles. And he is division 3. There is no way in hell a man with 9 players, in division 3 and with 100 losses should be beat me. But he did.

    2. It is literally impossible for any player to hold on to the ball for a full half. Meaning, from kick off, you CANNOT kick the ball around your defense/keeper and stop your opponent from getting possession. It just isnt possible. Can you play keep away while building an attack? Yes. Can you deliberately hold the ball so your opponent can never get it again? NO.

    And the reason this is done, is because if you had a lead in the begining of the 2nd half, all you would have to do is hold the ball so your opponent cant get it back and win. This world is full of suckers who would play that way and years ago, EA put scipts in to stop this. After a couple of passes, you will eventually send an errant pass or one of your players will do a pathetic animation as he attempts to control the ball and lose it, allowing the opponent to gain control. I have seen this happen in FIFA for years and years and the game would not be the same without. So, if FIFA has the capability to do that, why would EA have other scripts within the game?

    3. Yes, more goals are scored in FIFA than in real life, but that does not mean that in the 90th minute, players should be at their best. Which, in FIFA this happens. There are more goals scored in the last 10 minutes of matches than the first 10. Which is ridiculous because players should be exhausted, but they arent. There is literally a trait called “Second Wind” in Pro Clubs where you player gets a burst of energy late in games. Do you really think EA didnt add that to other game modes? Seriously?

    And do players hate to win? Yes, of course. We all want to blame something else for our losses. But why is that players from all over the world have the same experiences? This isnt an internet conspiracy. I have literally won games I shouldnt have because the game scripted me goals and I can admit that because I saw it happen.

    And honestly, this article is the first time I ever read anything from a fifa player that argued AGAINST scripting. Especially when there is countless evidence.

    Basically what you are saying is, we are experiencing the same anomalies, over and over again, in different iterations of FIFA, but scripting doesnt exist. We ALL just arent very good.

    Which sounds more believable? Your view? Or that FIFA is scripting matches so that players are on a more even playing field so that the game doesnt turn in to keep away after a player goes up 1-0?

  11. Good article. but one of your arguments is totally off. “Perhaps surprising, FIFA does make use of adaptive difficulty in certain offline modes. And, just like in BF1, it’s communicated openly:”
    You write that EA oppenly communicate that they use adaptive dificulty in some of their offline game modes and then you have a screen-dump underneath. the screen-dump you attached the argument is when your are playing fifa 18 for the first time. fifa 18 then determine your level from that one game and set the difficulty after that game. what offline modes are you reffering to??

  12. Idrese Manning

    In case you were wondering my player is a 94 Cam without cheating and so are my 3 buddies one of them being a 93 we have won over 500 matches and 52 cups in fifa 17 that number would be higher if not for scripting I.E. 45th and 90th min goals and ridiculous opponent A.I. Not to mention that if I’m 5’11 with the speed and acceleration perks on I shouldn’t be outpaced by a 6’6 player ever!!!

  13. Idrese Manning

    Hmm… I have been play fifa since 2000 and got into online play around 2012 playing pro clubs. I have played 1,000’s of games and some games I feel like my team is controlled from the first whistle my team’s players move like they are in quick sand. The opponents A.I. plays at a legendary level and they score the cheapest of goals. While my team’s A.I. play on semi pro dribbling in a straight line right into a defender every time they touch the ball. We are instantly closed down by the opponents A.I. while they can just run right past ours like cones. Honestly I’d be happy if the game was just even as far as A.I. and ref’s go if your not good enough to play in division the game shouldn’t help keep you there.

  14. While I agree that sometimes you can have more shots on target and lose because you made worse shots. But how do you explain that even the most of elementary of shots often go completely off-target and other times you always hit on target?

    In real life it’s a rarity that a team has 1-2 shots on target and defeats a team that has 20 shots on target.

    If this was purely down to ability how do you also explain that sometimes you would go on massive winning streaks. Yesterday I won 7 games in a row with Dortmund and the day before yesterday I also won 7 games in a row with Zenit in seasons online. I almost could not lose matches. I become ranked 1st in the leaderboards on PC Weekly and Monthly. After 2500+ matches online over a years of playing I finally won Division 1 title day before yesterday something I could not achieve all year long!

    Now yesterday a miracle happened. I won Division 1, 2 consecutive times in a row on the same day!!! How the hell is that possible when all year I kept getting relegated to Division 3 and climb up to Division 2, 3, 1, 2, 1 and suddenly now I was dominating? Strange right?

    And today completely the opposite. I am losing almost all my matches. I cannot dominate. I check their profile stats. Sometimes I thrash stronger opponents yet lose to weaker ones. It feels like it’s programmed; “Hey don’t be too cocky of yourself, I am going to make you lose now”!

    I’ve been playing FIFA since FIFA 98 World Cup on PC. FIFA 99, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2017.
    5 years I took a break from FIFA 12 because of handicapping, momentum scripting. To tell you frankly it was even worse in FIFA 12… Played NBA 2K instead and never witnessed crap like this there. All these years before that there has never been talks about scripting but suddenly in recent years this has become a topic! Coincidence?

    If you think quick goals one after another. Or going from 2-0 up/down and it’s even stevens like the commentator says. Or 45th, 53 min, 90th minute goals that happen almost every single match. If you think that’s not handicapping then you must be paid by EA to write such article!

    1. “But how do you explain that even the most of elementary of shots often go completely off-target and other times you always hit on target?”

      I don’t see evidence suggesting that shots which shouldn’t fail do fail.

      “In real life it’s a rarity that a team has 1-2 shots on target and defeats a team that has 20 shots on target.”

      Correct, but what makes you think it happens more frequently than it should on FIFA?

      “If this was purely down to ability how do you also explain that sometimes you would go on massive winning streaks.”

      There could be two obvious reasons: coincidence (toss a coin and you will see what I mean) and a bi-product of ELO matchmaking (matchmaking isn’t random in seasons). Why would EA want to impose streaks artificially?

      “Now yesterday a miracle happened. I won Division 1, 2 consecutive times in a row on the same day!!! How the hell is that possible when all year I kept getting relegated to Division 3 and climb up to Division 2, 3, 1, 2, 1 and suddenly now I was dominating? Strange right?”

      Fut seasons isn’t a real divisional structure. Since it’s ELO matchmaking based, the only certain increase in difficulty lies in the increasing point requirements.

      “Or 45th, 53 min, 90th minute goals that happen almost every single match.”

      The so-called 45/90 minutes aren’t actually 60 seconds long due to stoppage time, and if you consider FIFA’s normal goal frequency, you would expect to see stoppage til goals every other match. I see no evidence supporting th assertion that the 53 min contains more goals than it should. The same goes for various other minutes that I have heard similar claims about over the years.

      “ If you think that’s not handicapping then you must be paid by EA to write such article!”

      And you must be paid by Konami to wrote such a comment…

  15. Caio Revolta

    I just have one great and nice answer for each question or topic. The person needs to be very innocent or beginner to believe in what is wrote here.
    I really expected to find something here that could make some sense, or something new, but we found always the same words from who believes and from who doesn’t believe.
    Nothing new. What ea earns on this cheat building system is clear for everyone.

    1. Let’s hear what your great answers are.

      (I wouldn’t call myself a beginner. I believe I was XP lvl 80+ the last time I checked…)

  16. Worst Fifauteam article ever. It’s blatantly obvious when you play there are huge ARTIFICIAL swings in play. The losing team gains and advantage. One goal leads are better than two goal leads. So disappointing in Fifauteam.

    1. Hi. Usually, it is the author who replies to the comments of his article, but this time I will replace him.
      First of all, thank you for your preference. If this is our worst article, then it means that we are working extremely well. It is good to know.
      In our website, we all have the right to have different opinions. You may disagree with the author but you can’t deny that he is using good arguments. If you have better arguments than ‘it exist because we all know it’, we will be glad to publish.

      1. Hi, I don’t have any prove scripting exist, but I usually hit the post 3 or more times per game, and after that my opponent score with a shot that pass through Boatengs legs. Something is not right if I hit the post more times than I score. I feel that the game decides who win or lose.

    2. so one goal leads are better than 2? so if scripting does exist the when the score hits 2-1 then what? It’s a 1 goal lead. I won many games from 2-0 up by 4 or 5 and i’ve lost my fair share 3-2. scripting? No, bad play from me, good play from oppo? Yes.

  17. hahaha okeyyyy!!! 24 shots to the target, 80% of shoots from 1v1 situation. 58% ball controll and gues what??? im loosing 2-1 vs person who made in a whole game 2 shots to the targer from 3 posible. great right? tell me about scripting…

    1. that doesn’t prove anything, this happens in real life as well. It’s bad luck/bad finishing.

  18. The scripting has an official name, it is called “adaptive difficulty” by EA. It exists within one game, but it also exists over a series of games. there are different triggers. E.g.: if you win by a large margin you’ll be penalized.

    You can spot it in single player and online. In single player it is quite easy to prove. Playing on legendary you’ll have one game 4 tackles and the next one 25.
    In online mode it is more difficult to prove, because you play against different opponents, but it is obvious it exists. It’s same pattern.

    the guy with the facts site is an armchair philosopher. he does statistics, but he ignores the common sense. he can also prove that water in fluid state doesn’t exists, he can demonstrate it to you. if you contradict him he’ll say “fluid water is there but it doesn’t exist”. Conspiracy in a nutshell.

    1. Please note that I already addressed those points of view in the article. You are essentially repeating claims that already have been dismantled.

  19. 70% of respondents thinking they are above average…hate to be a nerd about sampling, but I suspect that the people mostly likely to be filling out the survey are the most hardcore fans of the game, which means you likely have selection bias in your methodology, which means that, in fact 70% (or more) of the survey respondents MIGHT be above average players. Just a thought.

    I, on the other hand, am terrible (at FIFA, not statistical methods).

    1. It’s very plausible that the people responding indeed are better than average when compared to the entire population of FIFA players. But my point is a bit more subtle: I’m not trying to measure how good they really are but rather how optimistic they are about their own skill level relative to an unknown group.

      The result is consistent with previous studies of a cognitive bias known as optimism bias, whereby people tend to believe that they are better off than they evidently are. As an example, I have seen surveys where newly married couples where asked to assess their divorce risk while knowing that the country average was 50 %. In those cases, the respondents still assessed their own risk as low as 10 %.

  20. The fact that so many people experiencing “unfair” play and so many people really think it’s the game that is influencing a match makes a point for itself.

    No other game i have ever played (and i’m a gamer from the first hour) has ever given me the feeling of being cheated out of a victory more then FIFA 17

    True or not, the fact is that the game “feels” rigged at certain times, intended or not it is a problem that should be addressed.

    The fact is that EA is trying to make as much money as possible (only look at the pathetic drop rate on packs) and your point that it is unlikely that they achieve that by cheating players brings me to the next fact.

    The fact that EA doesn’t release ANYTHING about there game mechanics.
    And this is the biggest problem.
    If they would be transparent about there game mechanics, they could easily give the majority of players some peace of mind.

    If you look at Blizzard. With Overwatch they communicate openly on the forums with their players exchanging ideas, letting player testplay patches and comment on them…

    EA is just sitting in their monopoly castle only opening the gates for the money trucks that keep coming in.

  21. Try getting ahead in a FUT Champions match 2-0 within 10 mins then see what happens to your team. No reason? They want you to open more packs, that’s why!

      1. FIFA15 research doesn’t have to say anything about FIFA17 does it?
        I consider myself as a reasonable player 24 wins on average in weekend league. This weekend I played a good opponent and conceded 2 goals in the 6th and 9th minute. All of a sudden my team was superb and in the 36th minute the score was 5-2 and the opponent disconnected. Nothing he could do about it.

        I have a decent team for quite some while now. After 20-30 good feeling matches my players stop making runs, and turn to shit.
        Whenever I open packs and change teams the good feeling returns. This is exactly how FIFA “encourages” people to open packs. Whenever you’ve found your perfect team, EA destroys it to keep you motivated in altering your team(via purchases). Otherwise nobody would buy FIFA points anymore after 3 months.

        1. People have been complaining about scripting since FIFA 11, so chances are that results based on FIFA 16 data are valid to all other FIFAs. That is, unless you want to take the unusual stand that scripting wasn’t invented until after FIFA 16…

          So, let’s face the reality here: If EA indeed did make matches more even, there is no way in hell they could hide this in the results. If there was an equalizing feature, we would see more narrow wins and draws. We can reject both those predictions. It doesn’t happen, and therefore we can rule out that you lose when leading by 2 because EA is trying to make matches even.

          What really goes on here is much more trivial:

          (1) it’s relatively easy to score in FIFA. Goals happen ~10 times more frequently than irl.
          (2) therefore, we can concude that goals happen rather randomly.
          (3) easy come, easy go. When matched against an evenly skilled opponent, you may score 2 easy goals and concede a couple of easy goals.

          Besides, you still haven’t provided an explanation to why intervening at specifically 2-0 would make people buy more packs. Why not just make them lose? Which again makes no sense, as someone will lose no matter what…

  22. We believe it exists because it gives us a comfortable alternative reality rather than confront that we’re not as good at FIFA as we think.

      1. I can’t believe how stupid people are lol Scripting DEFINITELY exists! In FIFA, we all go through a ‘winning momentum” and a “losing momentum”, or a series of games that you just can’t win. If you are having a “winning momentum”, you will basically win all your games no matter who your opponent is. The match is so easy, your AI defenders make amazing tackles for you, your attackers make perfect runs and put themselves in perfect positions, the ball stays in your feet etc. The opposite happens when you are having a “losing momentum”, where winning is simply impossible and you experience the opposite: your players are sluggish, defenders go out of position, players don’t know how to pass. You will then lose the game no matter who your opponent, you will concede 45′ and 90’ minute weird goals. The person who wrote this article says that “players who are skillfully better than you can make your players feel like they can’t pass” XD WHAT A BULLSH!T ! That’s the point, they are NOT better than you in any way. If I lose a game, I always go to look at my opponent’s scorecard and it ALWAYS appears that he is on a “winning momentum”, while I am on a “losing momentum”. So the game already decided he was going to win the match. Also when I lose to someone because of Scripting I rematch them in a private match (there is no Scripting there) and I trash them! How did he beat me in Online Seasons??? SCRIPTING! Also, when I am on a “winning momentum” I can easily win like 4-6 games on a row without any effort, but after when I look at my opponent’s scorecard, he is on a “losing momentum”. So I basically won because I was on a “winning streak” and my opponent was on a “losing streak”. Yes, skill matters to a certain extent, but sometimes it is just impossible to win games and that is because of momentum/scripting, and not because your opponent was actually better than me in any aspect -_- The game decides who wins.

        1. That is Fifa in a nutshell best post by a mile.the game is a game an arcade game no question or argument unless your brain dead or just in denial which is a real shame.crlarsen isn’t a real person or an ea employee or brain dead or in denial.

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