The best moment for me is when a youth player finally has finished the training you envisioned. I still remember the key players from my time in Hattrick. Josip Dumont-Damien was one of the first ones, Luc de Romrée de Vichenet and Mamadou Toure are players I remember fondly from my last generation.
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.
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 started playing Hattrick in the summer of 2002 when a friend, who I played "Fantasy Wrestling" with online, told me about Hattrick. I made many mistakes in the beginning. At that time there was no such thing as mentors or beginners' guides. So my very first club was bankrupt after only a few weeks. Luckily, I was able to restart with a new club shortly after that and then I did a lot better.
In HT, my biggest achievement is to be the assistant manager of the U20 national team of Suriname. And of course also, when my dream came true and I reached the third division with my own team!
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!