Managerzone

Managerzone ([http://www.managerzone.com]) is a massively multiplayer online game Sports club management simulator. Claiming to be the world s largest online sports simulation, it has around 1.4 million registered users as of August 2005. Its major rival is Hattrick.

= 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 of over a million users competing from nearly 50 countries. It currently maintains its headquarters in Karlskrona but also has major offices in Newark, Delaware, United States, in Brazil and in Beijing.

= 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:

*Master Game Assistant (MA): The most senior Game Assistant in their country or region, responsible for hiring and firing other Assistants. *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. *Forum Assistant (FA): Maintain order on the forums and enforce rules, editing posts to remove attacks and obscenity where needed. *Language Assistant (LA): Improve the translation of Managerzone into different languages. *Writing Assistant (RA): Produce articles for and publish the in-game magazine, The Zone .

= International availability =

== 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 generally expected (though it is not a written rule) to join the leagues of the nearest country geographically. Members of all countries are allowed to interact and share the same server with the exception of China; see Managerzone#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, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Wales.

== Languages ==

Managerzone is available in the following languages:

Bosnian language, Chinese language, Croatian language, Danish language, Dutch language, English language, Estonian language, Finnish language, French language, German language, Greek language, Hungarian language, Indonesian language, Indonesian language, Italian language, Lithuanian language, Norwegian language, Polish language, Portuguese language, Romanian language, Serbian language, Spanish language, Swedish language, Turkish language.

= Managerzone Football =

Managerzone s primary sport is association football, the only sport available since the game s inception. Over 99% of Managerzone s total user base play the football simulator.

== The club ==

Each user is given, upon registration, a football team of 19 football player, a budget of 240 000 Pound sterling and a stadium for 2,000 spectators, and placed in the lowest league in its pyramid (see Managerzone#League syetem below). The object of the game is to win matches and achieve promotion to a higher league, generally performed by training players, improving the club s stadium and finances, winning matches and achieving promotion.

== Players ==

Each player has a total of 13 attributes, the first 11 of 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 .

*Speed *Stamina *Play intelligence *Passing *Shooting *Header *Goalkeeper *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 ability of the player (the number of balls he possesses) and by, where applicable, the transfer fee that was paid to acquire him.

Players are 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).

== League system ==

Managerzone employs a pyramidal league system English football league system. Each country has a seperate pyramid, in which league has 8 teams, playing each other twice in the course of a season, resulting in 14 matches, played every Sunday (sometimes Saturday in some busier countries). 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 (8 teams) *Division 1: 3 league (24 teams) *Division 2: 9 leagues (72 teams) *Division 3: 27 leagues (216 teams) *Division 4: 81 leagues (648 teams) *Division 5: 243 leagues (1,944 teams) *Division 6: 729 leagues (5,832 teams) *Division 7: 2,187 leagues (17,496 teams) *Division 8: 6,561 leagues (52,488 teams) *Division 9: 19,863 leagues (158,904 teams)

== Cups ==

A number of cup competitions are run, sometimes simultaneously, throughout the course of the season. At the cost of 1 Euro or equivelant, a manager can buy a place in that competition. Cup competitions take two forms:

=== 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.

=== 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 *Invining only teams from a certain country or geographical region *Inviting only teams from a certain division

== Friendly Leagues ==

A friendly league is a seperate 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 (fiction) ; 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.

== 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, the 2005 competition by Argentina.

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 lead to the resignation of many of the international managers.

== 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.

= 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.

= 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.

= Managerzone in China =

With support from Fujian Newland Network Ltd., Managerzone entered the Chinese market with a Development stage#Beta in 2005, with competition beginning in earnest in the spring (season).

Managerzone China runs on a separate server from the traditional Managerzone leagues, with no interaction between the two. The game in China is 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.

The game has proved a huge success in China, which accounts for two thirds of its user base.

= Links =

*[http://www.managerzone.com Managerzone] *[http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/12/prweb186246.htm News story about the launch of Managerzone China] *[http://www.mzmanager.com MZManager external support tool]