FIFA players have all been there – your opponent rage quits before half-time, or pauses the match all the time, or time-wastes after scoring a goal, or celebrates every goal. Playing FIFA online can be a proper annoying experience.
Now, EA has outlined the unwritten rules of FIFA online play – using the world’s oldest club to get the message across.
EA Sports is celebrating the anniversary of Sheffield FC, which was founded in October 1857 and is recognised by FIFA as the oldest existing club still playing football in the world, with a new rulebook for FIFA 22.
The “FOAT Code”, as it’s called (FOAT stands for First Of All Time), “calls on the FIFA community to follow the unwritten rules of FIFA including asking players not to quit matches in rage and asking players not to pause game mid-match”.
There are other unwritten rules: don’t waste time; skip the replays of goals that aren’t worth a replay; and don’t celebrate every “sweaty” goal. It’s all outlined in the video below:
It’s all well and good asking the FIFA community to follow these guidelines, but I doubt this promotional campaign will have much of an impact. And some of these rules are interesting in that there are mitigations already in place to discourage this kind of behaviour – and yet it still happens.