I teach history of advertising to art students once a week, and one of the things they know intrinsically is that you should teach things by doing; i.e., you can’t teach someone to paint by having them read about painting. You can teach some theory, and some background… but mostly you should just make them paint. A lot. Same for when I learned writing.

Doing stuff is more fun than reading about it. And you’re right about the “friction” thing, though I hadn’t thought of it that way. Anytime you separate two experiences, you add the potential for friction. If you get someone into the game/service while learning it, you generate the experience while learning. As long as you manage that experience well, you’re all set. I would contrast World of Warcraft’s early, very smooth, very fun “in game tutorial” feel to what happens when you start of in Second Life. I enjoy SL, but it ain’t an easy, early road. Somebody needs to do a better job of an “in game” manual.