The key reason I stay in Hattrick is the friendships I have made, but also the competitiveness and the feeling that I can still achieve more.I don't necessarily aspire to be number one in my country but I like to test some idea how things could work better and build a team that way. The goal is always to be top 10 in the country.
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.
I got introduced to the game in 2006 by a long-time childhood friend who was already playing. I remember my 16-year old self being really excited about having a bunch of guys with their own names who could play virtual football for me. It was also a way for me to connect with people from all over the world, and that was very exciting.
I love Hattrick because it's simple. It is not taking much time to learn the dynamics, but you can tweak it forever. I love Hattrick because to me it is like Subbuteo or Risk. It is simple to learn but hard to master. It's still exciting to wait for 90 minutes to see the result of a game, four months to see the end of a season. I love Hattrick because it is possible to set goals for several years, to see your team growing up, to learn the names of the players, and to build memories about them.
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.