I think this advanced mentoring can indeed lead to a destruction of the spirit of discovery that I seem to recall being said even by Tom in the past. Certain things should be found by those willing to seek it out.
The extent of my warm-heartedness stops at telling people what each link does. I think that is what every gamer needs to know to have a fair chance. You don't hide the controls from people. You don't stick someone in a Street Fighter tournament without letting him have access to the combos (Although that was the case even in the 1990s when strategy guides and...Gamefaqs...weren't that common). You don't pit someone up against a Korean Starcraft progamer without letting him know there are such things as hotkeys and what they do. You don't make someone get embarrassed at DDR without first telling him that those arrows under their feet correspond to the flashing arrows that scroll up, and you have to step on the right ones when they pass through the shiny line at the top.
That, I believe, is the end-all for equity in gameplay. You don't ask Valle to give instructions about how he wins SF tournaments, what combos he uses, what counters to use and how to game your opponent into giving you openings. You don't ask Flash about the specific timings he uses in his OSL and MSL matches, or his openings and responses to initial scoutings. You don't...well, is there a strategy for DDR other than step on the right arrows and move your feet like crazy?
The point is, if we really want to do it, then go ahead. That's really going above and beyond true fairness though, as such things beyond mechanics are not equally applicable to all players. If you're going to spoon-feed them, then you may as well throw some mud in the faces of those players who actually made an earnest effort to learn through IC means, and through trial and error.
And I think some people also have trouble understanding what I'm saying. Very clearly, I care for fairness, but to me that means allowing everyone to have the explanations of all publicly accessible game options, meaning those that all normal player characters can have. That is something that all players must use, and always will use. But something that deals with specific strategy, like how to gain influence, how to become a ruler, how to act as a duke: Those I think should be taken very cautiously.
To make an analogy that hopefully makes this all clearer: We can teach an aspiring chess player what moves each piece can make, and how the timing works during tournaments. We should be careful what strategies we teach though, as it is far more educational for the player to actually play matches and try to figure out his own style and from their refine strategies, to make him the optimal player he will be.
That is something I think we haven't really touched on. Mechanics is fairly objective. The options are what they are. They don't look different, nor do they do different things, for anyone. But the playstyles, the strategies, the goals, all are optimized for each player. Giving a guide about that can be as helpful as it is harmful. I think it is far better for those who have a good grasp of mechanics to search for themselves the more complex aspects of BM. And I think that is a good thing too. We don't want to give everything away. Isn't that exactly what the Manual even says?
From the wiki main page:
Official Manual
All pages in this section have been written by contributors and are occasionally reviewed for accuracy. The manual is intentionally incomplete in some details and does not reveal everything, simply because it makes for a more interesting game to discover some stuff on your own.
So with what we're suggesting here, what exactly are we leaving for people to figure out? Their own hearts and souls? Tch, come on...
