FIFA 21: Multiple Changes Made to Reduce Trolling in Online Matches

FIFA 21 is making a number of tweaks to make online play a smoother experience, with less opportunity for trolling - including removing celebrations, making cinematics shorter, and more. EA Sports has explained that several decisions have been made based directly on community feedback, many of which focus specifically reducing the means for annoying opposing players. The Shush celebration (which became increasingly infamous among online FIFA players) and the A-OK gesture celebration (which has recently been added to lists of hate symbols) have both been removed from the game, and the length of goal celebrations has been reduced. Online, there will no longer be a walk back cinematic played after goals either. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=fifa-21-13-new-images&captions=true"] Similarly, waiting times for multiple set piece events have been drastically reduced from FIFA 20's 30 seconds. The new waiting times are:  

• Kick-off: 10 seconds
• Throw-in: 12 seconds
• Goal kick: 15 seconds
• Corner kick: 15 seconds
• Penalty kick: 15 seconds
• Free kick: 20 seconds
• Kick-in (Volta only): 15 seconds

  Online, many animation sequences will be auto-skipped, such as when a player heads to fetch the ball for a throw-in, or the keeper walks to put the ball down before a goal kick. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/18/ea-sports-montage-trailer-ea-play-2020"] To stop a different kind of annoyance, EA Sports has also removed all ball collision from outfield players' hands, up to their elbow. It might seem an odd choice, but this prevents any possibility for an arm blocking a shot with no penalty, because of the online game's lack of a handball rule. It's a promising, er, promise, hopefully focusing online FIFA play more on actual football simulation than the somewhat benign bursts of psychological warfare it's occasionally resembled in recent years. We'll see how much that's worked when the game's released on on October 9 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC via Origin and Steam (with next-gen versions coming at a later date, with free upgrades). If you want to know more about the changes it's making, you can check out how Career Mode is changing. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.