That free-kick video was pretty sweet. Would be cool if the set-piece routines weren't restricted to distance, presenting even more options to catch the opposition off guard.
Was thinking about foul frequency during a quiet moment at work today, after having seen that video. It has been mentioned before but an option to select referee strictness would be cool, but I think what the developers of a football game should do (maybe they are already, dunno) is code so as foul frequency fluctuates depending on the area of play, or maybe even fluctuates depending on match flow, home/away/crowd influence, even the individual players the ref is having to deal with regards rep for simulation.
For a start, when considering coding fouls based on area of play, I would bump up the frequency found in the penalty box, keep frequency in shooting range from a free-kick as it is (shooting range being central; left or right of centre, or just super close to edge of the penalty area) but increasing, considerably, the foul count everywhere else on the field.
Fouls should be more of a tactical thing in these games - should be something you actually want to do as well as be able to engineer in order to try win a free-kick. I think the middle or third (or just under that) should be where you see more fouls getting called. Having a considerable increase of a foul likely being called in this area is the perfect place to try to intentionally commit fouls; can slow the pace down; perfect area tactically to commit them in certain match situations. The centre of the field should be just that wee more niggly, but this would require continuous play to be the rule as opposed to exception. Just about free-kick awarded would need to allow for a quick restart and no resetting of the field. Personally, I would love that as I think it would encourage more midfield play as the player in possession might slow down a tad (match situation would be a big influence here), while the defending player really does want to slow it down if players are in danger of being out of position, or again the match situation means them doing so would benefit them. Other wee bonus is that it might, it might, help solve some positional issues; at the very least it would allow for the user to try do something about it. It is, after all, why professional fouls of the more niggly variety tend to get committed in that area. It would mean perhaps more in the way of animation and coding regards collision variety.
Let's be honest, every ref in the professional game applies different standards depending on where something happens on the pitch, rightly or wrongly.
