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I've been a part of some VA or another since I started flying on VATSIM in 2005. Every single one has shared the same common issue for me; enabling a ban on time compression. For years I just accepted it, falling in with the majority and only flying flights I could fly in real time based on my real life schedule. Since the PMDG 777 has come out with it's auto time compression tool and very recently an app in the Avsim Library called QuantumLeap (warp to any fix/lat or long coordinates in FSX), I've started reevaluating what I get the most enjoyment out of; being part of a VA or participating in my hobby how I want to. For me, the answer in the end was very simple. This is a hobby, not a job. While I can definitely see the value of trying to mimic real world operations that the majority of VA's try to do, you have to draw a line between realism and hobby. I don't have the time to fly a 16 hour long haul flight in real time, and I don't have the desire to just set the autopilot overnight, set my alarm and come to land it. This isn't realistic, and yet is widely accepted by VA's while at the same time time compression is considered "not realistic and not tolerated." Well I think it's ridiculous that VA's have this double standard. Why shouldn't I get to fly my sim how I want to while being a part of a group of other hobbyists that share the same passion I do? We're not getting paid to fly for a VA, so why have these restrictions as if we were? I've seen the argument of "it's not fair to other pilots who earn their hours legitimately." Well so what? Can we spend these hours on real life merchandise? If a pilot wants to speed up their flight and lose real hours, it only affects that pilot, not the entire virtual airline. Some VA's even went as far as requiring the pilot to push a button every 30-60 min in the VA ACARs program just to make sure the pilot was still at his computer. Am I really expected to push a button every hour for 16 hours if I want to fly a flight from the U.S. overseas to Asia or Australia? This is absurd. This turns the hobby into a job. In 2005 my time was largely freed up. Now, I have a career job with a 40 hour work week and I don't want to make being part of a VA a second job. So far, every one I've joined has felt like a second job. Instead of creating an environment where it's fun to fly how you like, you have to conform to their version of how you are expected to participate in YOUR hobby. And it's YOURS. Not anyone else's hobby. So finally, I've decided to hang my hat with virtual airlines and fly how I want to. While I'm a bit sad that I can't be a part of like-minded groups of people representing an airline from the real world, at the same time I'm a bit relieved that I'm not so hung up with restriction after restriction that ultimately was taking all the fun out of this hobby. If I have two hours to fly but I want to fly from LAX to Hong Kong, I can do this without having to worry about my PIREP being rejected. Yeah well, I file my own PIREPs now with FSCaptain, and FSCaptain doesn't care if I use time compression or if I use a 3rd party program to warp to any waypoint in my flightplan for the purpose of saving time and finishing an enjoyable flight based on real life time constraints. I don't know how many other people think like this, and maybe I'm in the minority. That's ok though. I'd rather be myself and enjoy this hobby then conform to the masses and be a part of a VA "just because". I guess I'm really writing all this so that VA's can take a step back and realize that some pilots may be discouraged from joining because of silly restrictions like this. You guys (the VA's) want to create an inviting community for people to come together and enjoy flight simming as a group, but at the same time you're really putting a crutch on people that don't have the time or energy to fly longer flights to interesting and exotic destinations because real life doesn't allow it. Maybe I'm totally wrong, and opening up these kinds of restrictions wouldn't increase your participation rate at all. I have no idea. All I know is I refuse to be a part of any VA that prevents me from enjoying flight simming as I want to enjoy it. In the end, there is realism, and then there is our hobby. If you actually made it through that entire rant, thanks for reading. If you didn't read any of it and only skipped to this small print, then maybe this thread isn't for you because I'm NOT putting a ;TLDR footnote. P.S. I'm sure someone will say it, so I'll just add that my signature now represents the fact I choose to represent the real United Airlines virtually over VATSIM and NOT because I still belong to one of the 10 billion virtual united airlines that exist. My mom was a FA for United for 35+ years, so I have deep sentimental value for United as I flew with them as a kid for free all the time. Strange, I know...but hey that's life.