@flyteach: My experience with users is all over the map. Some will read every piece of info they can find before asking for help, while others will spend 5 minutes skimming a couple web pages before doing so. I'm also spread WAY too thin right now. My response above was intended to make sure that the existing information WAS read before I spend lots more time that MIGHT be completely unnecessary. If the primer was already read, then the user simply needs to say so...
As you've now done.
I have no idea how many people are struggling to get a handle on CT. It could be just a handful. It could be many. Either way, I'll do my best to explain things further.
As a teacher yourself, you're keenly aware of how much time and effort it takes to come up with a good way of explaining something. And that's for someone both skilled and trained in doing so. I'm neither, so it represents a major chunk of time and the results are not going to be as good as they could be. But I'm the only option.
Also as a teacher, you can appreciate my frustration of not knowing the source of the disconnect when users simply say they don't "get it". It would be immensely helpful if you could give me some idea of where to start. What part of CT isn't making sense? If you can get me focused on the where the core confusion is centered, I can dive in and explain things in a targeted manner.
Lacking that, I honestly don't know where to start, so you're gonna get a shotgun blast that will likely (a) cover lots of things that are already understood, (b) not delve into enough detail on the areas that aren't understood, and (c) take a lot of time for all of us without getting the questions properly answered. In other words, you'll probably just end up with an alternate version of the same primer I already wrote, since that's the lens through which I see things.
So help me zero in, please, and I'll do my best to explain - and come up with useful analogies. Is it simply a question of "what's the point of CT?" Or is it a problem with the basic theater metaphor we adopted not clearly mapping to your gaming background? Or is it an issue with certain concepts not clicking, such as the stage or scenes or something else?
Let's begin by having you point me in a concrete direction on what information you want ME to start with. Then I'll answer those questions. After that, you can ask more questions and we'll continue the dialog until you've got a solid handle on what CT is, how it works, and why we've chosen this approach.
And once we've finished that dialog, I'll have a better handle on where people are getting confused and how to explain things more clearly to them. Then I can take that knowledge and put together a better primer to get future players jumpstarted more efficiently. And everybody wins!