I don't know about the conferences, but we are reading everywhere that they've been shaky for quite some times now. With the server problems they had, they might have to put more time on figuring out/fixing the game servers problems.
About it being an addiction, you tell me. I LOVE playing with number in excel, and Hattrick is absolutely pushing me overboard. See the Rankings in the Dynasty board for an example of what I'm talking about
FrogMan