Why should seniority grant special privileges? Especially if they aren't active in the recent format? Last time I checked Nats is the largest event in America, and is aimed at active and experienced players, who compete for a spot in Worlds. The 15 play point requirement is a fair compromise to make sure that the players are active and experienced, and no seniority doesn't replace that.
Why should seniority grant special privileges? This questions is so obvious to the point I'm wondering whether you're feigning ignorance or just being facetious. Obviously, seniority should grant special privileges.
The answer "seniority should grant special privileges" is so obvious that you unwittingly provided the answer to this question in your post. You claim yourself that "Nats it the largest event in America, and is aimed at active and
EXPERIENCED players, who compete for a spot at Worlds."
Now think about how experience is measured. Experience can either be measured in terms of the length of time that someone has been playing the game or by the quantity of tournaments that a player has attended. My proposal allows the Play! Point requirement to be waived for
EXPERIENCED players who have (1) played for X amount of years or (3) accrued X amount of Play! Points. If Nationals is for active
and experienced players to try to compete for a spot in Worlds (as you claim), then my proposal would be perfect.
Let's just take Jaeger as an example. Jaeger has earned several (9?) invitations to the Pokemon World Championships. He has Top 4ed U.S. Nationals a couple times as well. When he becomes a police officer, he will have to work nights and weekends (with inflexible vacation time). There is no chance that someone who has played this long (and is this experienced) in the game is going to sign up for U.S. Nationals to get the door prizes and drop after the prizes are handed out. An unintended consequence of the current Play! Point requirement is that players in good standing that have real life get in the way (and in Jaeger's case, who are
serving the country and protecting you and me) can no longer play in Nationals, even if they are competitive and going to make a serious effort to win the event.
Remember, the goal of the Play! Point requirement is not to keep actual players out of the tournament. The Play! Point requirement is a reaction to the hordes of Pokeparents that signed up for Nationals 2011 just to get the door prizes and dropping after the prizes were handed out.