• Morsey [del]
• 2012-06-21

Since today the national coaches can select any club stadium where the national team will play their home matches. The choice of stadium for the match after selected cannot be cancelled. We are also planning for the World Cup to be played in stadiums of one country, so it would be like one country organised the World Cup, such as in real life. There also might be a small reward for the team on which the stadium match was played. Currently, there are many national stadiums which have weak condition already, so we have decided to swap the scripts. National teams will now get stadiums which have a capacity of 60 000 and with Angel Grass, so the pitch conditions should be close to 100% most of the time.

With this script modification you can also now access and select different shirt types, both plus users for their own clubs and national coaches for national teams.

There has also been further engine tuning;
- Players are now, comparing to first tuned engine version, quicker
- Two bugs have been fixed related with launch and run existing in engine since it was implemented; the players thought they run on full speed even when they were standing, so they launched the ball too far and in situations they would be slower than opponent. It still may happen that they launch too far, but good players should launch more correctly
- Engine selects the stadium that the home National match was chosen to be played in by National Coach
- The supporters mood and expectations were adjusted to expect average goals that teams score with the current match engine

• Morsey [del]
• 2012-06-13

The introduction of the 3D viewer exposed how unrealistic the match engine could be; such as the players run was too fast, and the shots were too powerful. The reason of this is due to the height of players in the 2D viewer, while the run of bigger players looks natural in the 2D viewer, it doesn't look natural in the 3D viewer in comparison to field lines proportions.

Therefore, we have decided to fine tune the match engine further, especially for 3D viewer purposes. In normal circumstances we would not modify the match engine during the season, however we do not want to allow 4 months of unrealistic, atomic header goals out of penalty area and player speeds that exceeded reality.

Today, on Wednesday matches, you can expect modifications to the acceleration and speed of players, but also less powerful passes and shots, especially headers. In the next few days, you can also expect passing modifications to make the passing look more natural and less nervous. We will continue to tune the match engine over the coming weeks until we reach a more natural look in 3D proportions and realistic speed of ball and players.

• Morsey [del]
• 2012-06-07

The 2012 European Championship, hosted by Poland and Ukraine, begins on the 8th June. Therefore, we have decided to bring Euro 2012 to Sokker, through creating a special friendly league, Euro 2012 Simulation with teams for each country, to simulate every match, on the mornings just before the real match is played.

A forum, European Championship 2012, has been created where there will be threads for all the matches, created with polls, where you can predict who will win the whole championship. However, it will also be used to discuss the matches and the championship in general, it will not just be for squad discussion (see below).

On the same forum, there will be threads created for each team participating in the Euro Championship with squads and discussions on the skills, advantages and disadvantages of every player. We have implemented a system to convert real players to the Sokker database, every skill has a value between -3 and +3, then the player transfer values, taken from transfermarkt or similar sites, is acquired and converted to a Sokker transfer value, basing that value on the skill advantages and disadvantages of that player.

The National Teams for the European Championship 2012, will be controlled by Sokker. Sokker will set official squads and tactics as similar as possible as that of the real teams, to get a possible realistic result simulation and prediction for every match.

• Morsey [del]
• 2012-05-24

We are proud to announce that Sokker has implemented a new 3D match viewer. It has been developed in Adobe Flash and uses new 3D functionality implemented in Adobe Flash Player 11.

In the 3D match viewer, the match now has a new overall look but also, the new 3D match engine has enabled us to create possibilities for the match viewer, such as;

- New camera angles and heights
- Different shirt types (available for plus users in the 'kit' menu)
- Viewing player faces and hairstyles (future possibility)
- Addition of a stadium and showing the supporters that come to the match
- Different grass types and grass mows (style of grass cut)
- Ability to modify pitch size (available for all users in the arena menu)
and many more for the future that will be easier to implement.

The 3D aspect has appeared in Flash quite recently and therefore it may not work depending on hardware type, for example the 3D engine that we used to create the match viewer is still in its beta release. Also, the 3D engine may not work correctly on all browsers, for example Opera, however this is quite common that certain things do not work on Opera. If something does not look correct or it looks weird, please do not assume that is how it was planned and has to be, however should you encounter errors, please report the bug on the forum Bugs / Ideas (en) with your browser type, graphics card and a possible print screen of the problem.

The 2D version of the match viewer will still remain, and it may work better on slower computers or smartphones. However we have modified the 2D viewer to display the pitch lines dynamically, to support the different pitch sizes. In the 2D viewer, the stadium views, the supporters, the pitch types, or shirt types are not supported, and therefore shall not feature.

Arena and pitch

In the arena menu, there are now additional features that will allow you to customise your field but also a feature that will add a new aspect to how the field is used and maintained. These new features include;

- Grass Type - This new feature allows you to choose what type of grass you would like to have in your stadium. There are different qualities of grass, each will have a different optimum condition depending on the quality of the grass. (see below).
- Grass Mow - You can now customise what you would like your field to look like. There are many options for you to choose from, for example you could choose to have a field with no specific mow, or you might want the grass to be mowed diagonally to produce diagonal lines of different colour gradient. Plus users will also be able to place their team logos with selected position and size.
- Grass Condition - The condition of the grass will gradually get weaker each match and will need time to recover. The recovery rate of the grass will depend on the weather; it will grow best when it is not too hot and not too wet. There is though, a new feature that allows for a quicker recovery, through spending money on pitch maintenance. This will be available in the arena section. The other solution of pitch recovery is to lay new grass of the selected type. Also, different types of grass will have a different maximum condition. For example, garden grass will not reach much more than 50% of condition, so it will not be as good. On the pitch, in an area of weak condition, the ball may bounce in an unpredictable direction due to the unevenness of the grass, and also may jump in a direction a player didn't want when dribbling. The probability of injury will be higher on a pitch with poor condition and lower on a pitch with better condition (higher than 50% condition).
- Pitch Size - You will now have the ability to change the size of your pitch, to how big (or small), you desire. This new feature may benefit how you use your tactics. The pitch modification will cost depending on the type of grass you have, and which grass mow you have.

Match engine

The match engine has been modified to support 3D viewer features, such as shirt types, standings and supporter numbers, pitch sizes and grass types, logos, etc.

Other modifications in match engine include:

- Added keeper animations; standing and running with hands wide
- Ball bounces unpredictably on weak condition pitch, and while dribbling, depending on the condition of the pitch
- Players speed is decreased by 5%; in 3D this makes it look more natural
- Probability of injury is higher on pitches with weak condition and lower on good or better conditioned pitches (better than 50%)
- More short passes (this will probably need further adjustments)
- On free kicks and corner kicks the players will pass more adequately
- Modification of defending so now it is easier to dribble over a player from the front
- Players will change direction more during dribbling to minimize possibility of an opponent stealing the ball
- Fixed bug of players launching the ball forward to themselves, but an offside striker taking the ball instead. A scoring and assist bug related with launching has also been fixed.
- Height influences acceleration and fatigue
- Player weight added (see below)
- Tactics modification in match engine; The players will be able to spread over the pitch better. For example, defenders will be able to get closer to the goal-line, similarly, strikers will be able to go higher up the field. This is a modification in the match engine, there will be no changes to the tactics editor.
- Modification in algorithm of supporters attendance depending on stand type and ticket price, supporters will more often choose cheaper stands of same or better type
- Added possibility of injury while dribbling, but, in exchange, lowered probability of other injuries
- Fixed bug that changed to second tactic when it wasn't set
- Fixed bug of setting players on the same position on conditional orders
- Covering players introduced (DEF will be able to modify its position a little when see there is an attacker close to him uncovered), how defenders cover will be later explained in news and rules

Player weight

We have added player weight, which will be visible in the 3d match viewer along with height, with taller players appearing taller and heavier players being bigger than lighter ones.

If a player is too light, they will speed up slower, as they have a lower muscle mass. In addition a player with a high weight will speed up slower, as they are too heavy. Heavy players will tire more quickly, compared to lighter players. The weight of a player will change depending on training, matches played and injury, although this has not been implemented yet.

Weight is calculated using Body Mass Index (BMI), which takes weight and height into consideration, where;
BMI = weight / (height*height)

The ideal BMI for a Sokker player is set to 23.75.

New features announced in the news article that aren't available yet, will be activated soon.

• MatzeG
• 2012-05-21

It is election time again! You will have the opportunity to stand for election as the national team coach (either Senior or U21) of any nation, and vote a senior and U21 manager for your own nation.

To access the election page, go to the respective country homepage, then click on National Team, and then Elections.

If you stand for election, it is recommended that you open ONE thread in the appropriate country forum after the elections start. Please prefix your thread with [NT] or [U21] , e.g. [NT] greg or [U21] damian. Please do NOT spam forums, SK-mail people directly for votes, or spam users Guest Books. Any of these spam activities will result in forum banning and/or a financial fine.

Please remember that a user who has been elected as an NT manager will not be able to resign from their job. Therefore when you stand for the NT job, it is not only for fun, it is also your responsibility to serve the full term which the people that voted you into the job thought you should serve.

Elections will start on the 21st of May and end on the 3rd of June at 22:23, so start preparing your speeches, asking candidates tough questions & voting!

• Lostprophets [del]
• 2012-02-05

On cold and snowy days, at least in Europe, we've been introducing scripts with modifications and fixes completed in the past months.

Modifications on this version:

- The ability to set a second tactic on the lineup page and the possibility to change it using any condition in the match orders.
- Sticky topics on forum.
- A new "events" section on the league page which summarizes the events of teams in that division (e.g. transfers). There will also appear on every club page which show the events in that club.
- The amount of conditional orders have been increased.
- The charge for setting a minimum starting bid on listing a player to the Transfer List is now reduced from 4% to 2.5%, but the tax upon selling the player has been increased from 4% to 5%. We hope more users will use that option to set higher, and safer, minimum starting bids.
- Internal scripts have been rebuilt, little bugs fixed and tweaks (like in associations; possibility to moderate by editors, but also currency problems with minimum starting bid prices etc)
- Plus payments page rebuilt.
- Player and trainer transfer reminders. (currently on email and as notification)
- Possibility of translations added on various pages where there was previously the English language with a dot by it. (translation in progress)


With this new version, admins can now withdraw transfers. This option will be used only in reasonable situations, like during server breakdowns, where few transfers were executed without a bid war (but not during slow server work when most transfers were executed normally), so don't expect that your transfer will be canceled, just because you think the price is too low :)

To be sure of getting the right price, set your player with a reasonable minimum starting bid.

• Lostprophets [del]
• 2012-01-30

It is election time again! You will have the opportunity to stand for election as the national team coach (either Senior or U21) of any nation, and vote a senior and U21 manager for your own nation.

To access the election page, go to the respective country homepage, then click on National Team, and then Elections.

If you stand for election, it is recommended that you open ONE thread in the appropriate country forum after the elections start. Please prefix your thread with [NT] or [U21] , e.g. [NT] greg or [U21] damian. Please do NOT spam forums, SK-mail people directly for votes, or spam users Guest Books. Any of these spam activities will result in forum banning and/or a financial fine.

Please remember that a user who has been elected as an NT manager will not be able to resign from their job. Therefore when you stand for the NT job, it is not only for fun, it is also your responsibility to serve the full term which the people that voted you into the job thought you should serve.

Elections will start on the 30th of January and end on the 12th of February at 22:24, so start preparing your speeches, asking candidates tough questions & voting!

• Lostprophets [del]
• 2011-11-14

We encountered a problem with our database server on Sunday morning, which appeared right after the morning update, just after some matches had started, and was caused by a database system drive failure. We spent all day on reinstalling the database server and copying data. Due to only a few matches having been already played, and most of them when server was unavailable for users, we have decided to move the match day to Monday and have managed to restore Sunday's data. Matches that did start will be played again on Monday. All transfers ending after the morning update on Sunday have also been moved moved by 24h. Today is the server equivalent of yesterday, hopefully without yesterday's problems.

• Lostprophets [del]
• 2011-09-28

We have introduced a new method of plus payments, via platnosci.pl, better known worldwide as payU. It operates with credit and debit card payments from Visa and Mastercard (worldwide) and online bank transfers (polish bank accounts only).


It is listed as the first choice for payments as it is now our preferred method of plus payments, in regard to transaction fees and payment transfer time, so, if possible, please use that operator. Also, the occurence where the payment with your card was rejected is greatly reduced, unlike what Sokker users have experienced with DotPay.


Additionally, we have activated a uKash payment channel on DotPay. It is an alternative payment method when you have no credit or debit cards, but only works in countries where it is available.

• Lostprophets [del]
• 2011-06-20

It is election time again! You will have the opportunity to stand for election as the national team coach (either Senior or U21) of any nation, and vote a Senior and U21 manager for your own nation.

To access the election page, go to the respective country homepage, then click on National Team, and then Elections.

If you stand for election, it is recommended that you open ONE thread in the appropriate country forum after the elections start. Please prefix your thread with [NT] or [U21] , e.g. [NT] RedJim or [U21] guacamole. Please do NOT spam forums, SK-mail people directly for votes, or spam users Guest Books. Any of these spammy activities will result in forum banning and/or financial fine.

Please remember that a user who has been elected as an NT manager will not be able to resign from their job. Therefore when you stand for the NT job, it is not only for fun, it is also your responsibility to serve the full term which the people that voted you into the job thought you should serve.

Elections will start on the 20th of June and end on the 3rd of July at at 22:20, so start preparing your speeches, asking candidates tough questions & voting!