The best moment for me is when a youth player finally has finished the training you envisioned. I still remember the key players from my time in Hattrick. Josip Dumont-Damien was one of the first ones, Luc de Romrée de Vichenet and Mamadou Toure are players I remember fondly from my last generation.
I started playing Hattrick in the summer of 2002 when a friend, who I played "Fantasy Wrestling" with online, told me about Hattrick. I made many mistakes in the beginning. At that time there was no such thing as mentors or beginners' guides. So my very first club was bankrupt after only a few weeks. Luckily, I was able to restart with a new club shortly after that and then I did a lot better.
I ended up playing Hattrick because I used to play some MMORPG in the past (like Dark Age of Camelot or Ultima Online) but they were totally absorbing and some of my friends described Hattrick as "easy and casual", and I believed it (lol). I couldn’t really guess, at that time, how much time and passion I would end up putting into this game.
I play Hattrick because it’s an addictive game. The game can be enough on its own … But by adding the community part, it borders on perfection!
I was ranked 1st of all teams in Botswana after the first league round, that was one of the best achievements for me in Hattrick. Of course there's a lot of luck involved there, but hey, they're never going to be able to take that away!
What I like about Hattrick is that there are not 248 925 784 skills that you have to pay attention to. I like that there are several (but not too many) tactics and that they all have weak points that other strategies can beat. I like that this is a slow game, it fits my private life. And that is probably also why I still find it interesting after almost fifteen years.