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.
I play Hattrick because I am a big football fan and I have always liked to play football manager games, like the German game "Anstoss" or "EA Football Manager". I play Hattrick since 2002, even though I had a break because of the birth of my daughter. So Hattrick has been with me for most of my life, you could almost call me "addicted” to Hattrick!
My biggest achievement in Hattrick so far is that I have won some titles with my second team in Bahrain and reached the semifinals of the National Cup in Italy, but I hope, a few months from now, that it will be winning the World Cup for the Italian NT.
The Hattrick community is colourful, it really helps expand the Hattrick world. You can find plenty of helpful managers that can help you with Hattrick and real life questions.
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!
You need solid dedication, a touch of insanity and a whiff of luck to become successful in Hattrick. Oh, and a feeling for mathematics.