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.
I would say the community is the strongest reason I have stayed in Hattrick for so long. The game too of course. After having trained my players and played in the French Division 2 for a while, I started focusing on training international players to help the Moroccan team. Today 80% of the defense of the Atlas Lions was trained by me!
Why I stick around in Hattrick? I think it is love :) I mean, everything I can do to help Hattrick to stay as immersive as it is, is very important to me. I was a moderator, a translator, an editor - just because I felt that Hattrick, in a very peculiar way, was mine. Now I'm a National Coach because of the same reason. I think Hattrick is my game. I want to play forever and stay here with my friends.
The first championship I won is one of my best Hattrick memories. I won the title in the 8th division by scoring a 4-3 winner in the 86th minute of the last league game. This put me tied with two other teams and I clinched the title on goal difference: 62-14 versus 61-14 and 54-11. I'll never forget the player who scored that goal, my Norwegian star striker Olav Aamot.
I am one of the old users who likes to do my own research to learn how the game works. I like that this is a thing in Hattrick. Not everything should be mentioned in the rules. I also like the federations where you can have some real tight friendships. More than some friends call Hattrick a forum, with a soccer-game attached to it.
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.