I started playing Hattrick because some of my co-workers absolutely wanted to introduce me to Hattrick. When I finally tried, it was the Valentine's Day of 2009 … and I am still here, ten years later!
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.
Some of my Hattrick friends I've known for more than a decade now, which is longer than quite a few of my real-world friendships. You build up trusting relationships with them, and meet people you'd normally never meet. That's also what I really enjoy about the federations in Hattrick - some are really places where you can share your personal stories. A federation in Hattrick was one of the first places where I disclosed I was going to become a father!
A favourite part of Hattrick is when you have an Eureka-moment, when you realize you understand some part of the game better than others. Or when you win something important, like a Cup, or gain promotion to the first division. My current goal is to reach the top-10 in Belgium again and to win a Cup with more of my own youth players.
What I like about the Hattrick community is that there are real people and you don't just compete against the computers. You play against each other, but you can also help each other in the forum and talk about everything.
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.