What's the difference between the two? Well, management games have it all it seems: long-term planning, complex financial models, laws of supply and demand, and in-depth performance analysis. However, only fantasy games offer a purely multiplayer experience based on real-life results instead of simulation. Still, most fantasy games are very light-weight and attract people looking for mindless fun. So if you like the nerdy stuff, but don't want to get disconnected from what you watch on the telly, advanced fantasy is what you're looking for!
Fantasy games are becoming deeper and deeper nowadays, adopting the spirit of long-term planning and pursuit of realism into what arguably remains a fantasy game (i.e. it relies on real-life results). Below we present two such games, both starting this summer and still searching for managers: All-Europe Football and NBA Front Office.
In AEF, you take over a club in any of the 5 major European leagues: English Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, or Ligue 1. Separate player universes allow for easy scoring according to the national calendar, but the countries are connected by international transfers and loans, Champions League, and Europa League. The financial model includes contracts up to 5 years, international and national loans and transfers, signing fees etc. Every team has its budget (the vault), from which both fees (deducted once) and salaries of the players (deducted every 6 months) are paid. At the very beginning, all team rosters are built from scratch.
The latter is where NBAFO differs. It is a dynasty league set up to reflect the real-life NBA as closely as possible, with all existing contracts in place. The geeky part is that we follow all the trade rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, without introducing any additional rules unless absolutely necessary. So if you dream of replacing the general manager of your favourite NBA team, this is probably as close as you'll ever get!
Both leagues are non-commercial projects kindly supported by the fantasy community ProFSL. To learn more and/or sign up, visit the respective forum: AEF, NBAFO.