09-08-2024, 08:26 PMLime Wrote: I think you are entirely missing the point of why I brought those countries up... There is already precedent in a major sports federation for including non-states in their system. Valid choice of a nation should be based on precedent and demand. IIHF does not include Scotland and Wales because there simply isn't a demand for it. If you are really hung up on hockey precedent, note that Hong Kong is a long-standing IIHF member. It is important to realize that the SHL IIHF is not the IRL IIHF and has different demands and therefore should weigh its needs independently. I have no idea how active a Quebec team would be versus an Italian team etc. but I don't think it is in any way outside the scope of realism for a simulation hockey league.

And I think you missed the entire premise of my post. I mentioned multiple times this was my own line I was drawing based on my own preferences in terms of how the SHL IIHF should determine things. You might now share it, might not agree with hit, but that's my own opinion of it nonetheless. That said, IRL IIHF does not include Quebec because there hasn't been a demand for it either, and as far as Hong Kong goes, I'm not as aware about their geopolitical/IR perspectives so IDK how it came to be, I only know they've had judicial autonomy as a Chinese region for a while before the recent events, which isn't the same with QC. We can argue about validity all we want, I personally chose to remove arbitrary decisions and fall back on an organization that sanctions international representation outside of our own opinions as a community about what nation should or shouldn't exist in the IIHF landscape, it feels much cleaner to me.

As far as scope of realism for a simulation hockey league, I actually don't disagree with you, but not everyone seems to as its been demonstrated in the reaction people have had about it. Its also not something that has been explicitly determined by current or past IIHF HO's, so we really had no indications about it until now. It can serve as precedent moving forward, but I still think there was a missed opportunity to consult the community about how they were feeling about it beforehand. I'm personally a bit more of a fan of simulating IRL circumstances, but I wouldn't be mad about a change to include less realistic options if that's what most people preferred, as long as its not the moon tbh :kek:.