As devastatingly satirical as Jeff's comments may be, I feel like they amount to an unwarranted shot at Jon. I appreciate the point you are making (I've been poking fun at Jon's serious ways with my avatar for like a month), but in this context--a thread entirely unrelated to previous debates, or even the content of Tecmo Bowl itself--it is difficult to interpret these comments as anything other than purposefully belittling of a fellow staff member.
But it certainly seemed to be acceptable when Silks belittled some of our readers by saying his opinion and having it be "difficult to interpret" whether or not he was trolling in that thread. "Serious gamers," anyone? He admitted his error in diction but not in thought, and possibly still thinks some of our longtime (let's say "hardcore") members like Mario, Bill, and Infernal Monkey to not be "serious gamers," which is, how some have put it, very condescending.
Shammack is right. These labels are meaningless, and even with Silks' new entry into the GREAT HARDCORE/CASUAL DEFINITION WARZ, it appears that even he doesn't follow these as evidence his "DS Game List" post in another Handeld Thread:
Tecmo Bowl Kickoff, Bangai-O Spirits (Treasure shmup, hello), and Dragon Quest IX should it actually release in 2008 (doubt it, since we haven't heard anything about it in ages).
Both of those titles don't even fit any of the "hardcore" criteria except maybe possibly having a "difficulty curve." And if only meeting one allows Hardcore Silks to Hardcorily enjoy them, then why can't some people Hardcorliy enjoy Wii Music or Nintendogs? Why is it all demographics and marketing when it comes to typical Wii users and hardcore Wii users and people on this forum, but Silks gets to have a cosmopolitan game selection that breaks the rules that he defines? Why does he attempt to instill shame in what people might enjoy, such as just now calling anybody who might anticipate Wii Music "brainless?" Why is he allowed to stand in front of his glass house and throw stones?
Opinions as extreme as the hardline definitions set by Silks require consistency to be most effective, and that means no straying from them. Silks, you are just going to have to not buy and enjoy Tecmo Bowl and Dragon Quest and Bangai-O, because they simply do not fit with your own definitions. But there is a way out! You can enjoy those games if acquiesce that gamers can enjoy anything and everything, including Wii Music and Nintendogs, and maybe some of these new/old gamers aren't "brainless," so long as they enjoy them in a hardcore manner of playing them and enjoying them. This way you can enjoy the above DS games without sounding disingenuous.
I have said my piece and will disengage, as per Yoshidious's request.