This was still the early era, when it was considered hip to have made your own personal homepage with rotating images on it, and when web-based email was still considered fantastically sophisticated.
Hattrick was something else, a rather simple game on the surface, but also a world onto its own, a football universe which you could own your own little piece of. Even in those early days, it was a beautiful mix of strategy and social networking, and even though there hadn´t been any plan for it to happen, dedicated Hattrick forums started popping up and a community formed.
As we have worked with Hattrick during these years, we have often got the questions: Did you expect it to become this big? What were your goals with Hattrick when you started?
Of course we had faith in Hattrick and thought there were a lot of people out there that might be interested. But the goal was not to reach a certain number of users, or leagues, or years in operation. We wanted to build a platform from which Hattrick could grow to reach its own potential, whatever that may be - both in terms of the game, of the users and of the community. The growth, often in unexpected places, has come as beautiful surprises, just like the many people we have met and gotten to known through Hattrick.
As we celebrate 10 years of Hattrick, our philosophy is pretty much the same as it was when we started. We can´t tell the future, but we know we want to create the best possible circumstances for Hattrick and for all our users. Turning around the current problems in the in-game economy, create new interesting game play, and finding new ways of supporting the community - there is a lot to do.
Now, what about the anniversary itself - how do we celebrate? The best way is perhaps to find your way to a local pub with some friends from the game, and have a good night out. Then you can use our new
Calendar tool, were you can post real-life events and have your buddies sign up to join you for parties, football games, and game nights. The calendar also keeps track of important HT events and, if you are Supporter, you can use it for personal notes, too.
Another nice and social new feature is the new
Hattrick Live Viewer. This is an alternative way to follow your Hattrick games, with a nicer graphical interface and also with an integrated chat, which allows you to talk in real time with the users that are logged in to follow your match.
On top of that, there is a new
Invites feature with which you can send invitations to your friends to join Hattrick – and where you can keep track of those who do.
That´s about – for now! We in the HT team would like to thank you all for 10 fantastic years of Hattrick, and with the hopes of many more to come.
Skål!