Indeed. It’s funny how that works sometimes. I have seen it with sim pilots too of course. I think that some people get so wrapped up in it all because it is maybe out of reach for one reason or another in the real world. I get it… my simming seems to hold a tighter grip on me when I am not able to fly for real. Right now actually! 
Interestingly (or not) I’ve never flown on VATSIM before. For no other reason than I just haven’t.
If I had to guess though…my assumption would be they have to be pretty uptight about the rules and procedures…otherwise there would be a casual creep to things that could devolve real quickly in the Wild West of casual users. In the real world we can occasionally joke around on the freq or share an unorthodox moment, but the knowledge you are pushing the boundaries is always there to reign things back in naturally and of it’s own accord. With internet flying…I could see how there wouldn’t be that natural self corrective nature.
But I’m just speculating.
All I can say to that is Meow! (on 121.5 of course). 
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Do VATSIM users monitor guard too? 
I’m guessing that a 17 year old VATSIM controller would brobably blow a gasket if anyone meowed on virtual guard. 
Actually, it annoys the @#$% out of me when I hear that for real… that and “You’re on Guard!”… lol.
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FYI, Pearson Field (KVUO) right across the Colombia, has a VFR corridor on the northwest side for anyone wanting to depart the area VFR. Below 1100 feet AGL for a few miles. Contact 119.0 before departing or arriving the pie slice.
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About VATSIM, when you screw something up, they have been rather understanding. I’ve screwed up a lot in the last few days.
I’m also not a real pilot with zero instruction other than you guys and youtube. I don’t know how accurate their ATC realism is. Real pilots may laugh at the stupidity of it all. The main reason I said we should try vatsim is because it provides a relatively hassle free multiplayer environment in xplane for free.
I can see why a pilot would not want to fool with ATC when at the house. Flying for fun vs working. I have a similar vibe when I play ARMA and I hear people on the radio that sound like they are reading 9 lines out of a field manual from 1960. Reality is far from the book in combat, and I’m sure real world controllers are vastly different.
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Yeah, when @BeachAV8R said this the only thing I could think was, “Why would someone do that?”. A juvenile attempt at gaining attention?
A personal mantra, derived from similar observations in the decline of human civilization, 'just because you can, doesn’t mean you should"…I’m becoming my grandfather 
Works for me - willing to give it [VATSIM] a shot. My last go there was, as mentioned, 17 years ago so it’s basically new to me.
It’ll be fun no matter what. Or we’ll figure out another way.
For the most part, my interactions with the VATSIM controllers have been very positive. The phrases they use tend to be correct, in the right format, and professional. There’s been a couple times that little things haven’t been quite right but it’s unlikely anyone outside of a licensed pilot would notice.
I’ve also seen controllers be extremely patient with very young pilots that, frankly, probably shouldn’t have been online by themselves. I remember a controller on a quiet night helping me out with learning how to VATSIM the first time I logged in. I was working on my PPL at the time and was just looking to practice with VORs and build some confidence on the radio.
And yes, some controllers are 17 year old kids that are learning and won’t get everything right. But at the end of the day, most are doing it because it’s something interesting to them and they want to learn. And, bottom line, it’s a game; not real life.
I get that, most of my flying is from my home field, out to the airspace, and back. The reason I’ve probably liked VATSIM so much is I get to plan a flight to other airfields and get to do something different and new.
Also, I did a thing:
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I’m gonna be on later tonight if anyone wants to meet up and give it a go. Pick the field, I don’t care. I have ortho for Florida, East Texas, the entire West Coast, Arizona (the Grand Canyon is pretty amazing with HD ortho), and Nevada.
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How’s it look up in the panhandle? The default is pretty bare (not much here anyway, but). Tried flying over my default fishing spots but a lot was missing.
I haven’t tried that area yet, but south Florida and keys makes a massive difference. I used the forkboy ortho images.
Everyone seems to be doing THAT thing. I really need to pick it up.
I need to RTFM a bit more, apparently.
Got an “ELEC FEATH FAULT” caution with a loss of NG reading and lost the motor entirely a few minutes after that. Thankfully I was already setting up for a precautionary approach when it quit and I was able to feather the prop and dead-stick it.
None of the parts on the maintance side seemed damaged and an X-plane restart cleared it. 
Overall I’ve been very impressed by it.
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Really high quality module. I like how you can “feel” the dampening effect on controls as you increase speed. Tons of little details like the icing effects. It’s also very versatile. It’s maneuvering speed is around 160kias, but it can get up and go up high.
https://map.vatsim.net/flight/83dc7a672fff39e6be317840ef12669c
Flying from Pensacola to Tampa right now.
I hope people aren’t scared to get on and try it, I haven’t had any problems and I haven’t had any formal training so I know my requests/phraseology is total shite. I’ve even heard some kids on and the controllers I thought handled it professionally. This is my first experience with VATSIM so maybe they have changed? Either way so far so good.
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Never heard of that app. Neat. You missed my fishing spot:
Just don’t tell anyone
Sounds like some forums. Or FB, Or Twitter, or…