Experienced armchair managers had to check their expectations at the door when it came to the revolutionary Football Manager Live. Released in early 2009 after a long period of gestation, this massively multiplayer take on managing the beautiful game (complete with a monthly subscription) let you build your own custom club and compete against real people all around the globe to see who would end up with a grandstand named after them.

Defining your own club (you could choose your name, colours, badge and home ground) was the first step, after which you could use some pre-picked players or try to assemble a dream team using a modest £500,000 starting budget, operating within a daily player wage limit. You then chose a suitable football association to join - out of 10 supported, each of which played matches at different times of day to help suit a variety of lifestyles - and faced off against other players in seasons that lasted 28 real-world days.

To develop yourself as a manager, you had to pursue different skill areas, but focusing on one meant you would lose out in others, so it took a while to really build yourself up and become competitive. Meanwhile, the transfer market was more like an online auction house, allowing you to bring real-world talent (FM Live used the Sports Interactive database of over 330,000 footballers) to improve your squad.

There hadn't been anything like it before, and while it didn't last forever, those who fell under its spell found it hard to go back.