FIFA: Doing Online Right

Purely because it’s likely to make up the vast majority of your reporter’s weekend, it seems high time someone discussed exactly how much the designer of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa’s online functions needs a pat on the back. And how they should feature in every football title, forthwith.

See, football is a sport desinged to be played in league form. Due to the relative likelihood of upsets (unlike, say, gridiron), some nationwide cup competition followed by a Super Bowl equivolent would be about as successful as trying to catch the air.

Trouble is, folks on the internet enjoy ragequitting so much a game centred upon it would probably outsell Modern Warfare 2. So, how to bring the league feeling to a competition in which anyone can quit at any time. Tricky.

Dividing players by rank into ten ‘divisions’, World Cup 2010 has players undertaking ten game ‘seasons’ against a random selection of players in their division, with relegation and promotion after it’s all over based upon players’ overall points total.

In an instant, the importance of each game ramps up exponentially, creating both a reason for annoyed losers not to throw their dolly out of the pram and the overall competition being not about he near-impossible task of being world number one, an honour that lasts for only ten seconds anyway, but winning ‘championships’ – an equally prestigious yet wholly possible feat.

It’s a brilliant mechanic, well worthy of such a highlight. Check it out over the weekend – you won’t be disappointed. You might be relegated, but not disappointed…