Second, I recommend not joining a game with them for their first one just to eliminate such worry. Just explain to them the situation, why meta is so important to worry about, and that this way you can talk to them and teach them and show them moves throughout the game.

That's what I would do at least, assuming they don't even know how to play. Once they know how to play so you two don't need to talk about specifics or moves or anything then I'd move to playing in the same game, following all the rules above. But maybe someone who's actually done this before can give better advice.

I hope you brought enough to share.

I mean, I thought about this a lot when I wanted to introduce one of my friends.

FP non-anon: Not obvious how you teach strategies/tactics. Even if you yourself are unbiased, they probably won't be. Difficult to help them with press (yes, normally you can lie about what someone said but in a teaching situation it's (a) wasteful for them to lie about what press they recieved (b) wasteful for you to lie what you think the right response(s) would be (c) they wouldn't even know what to lie about)

FP anon: Not obvious how you teach strategies/tactics without them revealing who they are because you'd have to do so for every country every turn, and you couldn't help them with press really either way more so than the FP non-anon.

GB (anon): Again, you'd have to teach them basic strats/tactics for every country every turn so they and you don't give away who's who, and even then that breaks the rules really (the rule isn't "don't discuss ongoing GBs in a way that breaks anon" it's "don't discuss ongoing GBs"). And you're teaching gunboat, not Diplomacy.

It's just not obvious how to *teach* the game while also playing with them and not breaking meta rules. Most if not all of this goes away if you simply aren't in the game, but that sorta defeats the purpose I know.

But hey my words not official or anything those are just my thoughts.

It's fine to play with friends if you follow the rules and don't meta.
How to *teach* by playing with friends is...not obvious to me.

Perhaps I'll have him join the site, get him into some games on his own, and just help him where he has questions. Sounds like that would be the best strategy.

Ideally I think would be a live game, so his points and attention aren't tied up for months on end as he's just starting out.

Maybe start with a GB so he understands the interface, rules, and a bit of tactics (bounces, supports, cutting support, beleaguring units, bluffs, retreats, etc). Then maybe a live game.

Then after one or two and reading some articles and watching some videos they'd probably be ready to play a game without having to ask you for advice or give up their press/strategies to you. And then you can EOG the shit out of it of course too to keep them learning.

Find some other willing beginners and invite them all to a private, low stakes game with you and your friend. Heck, they don't even have to be beginners, just people who have a good attitude and are willing to teach when there's a teachable moment, and maybe are willing to pull some punches with the new guy.

And maybe try out on a nonstandard map. Ancient Mediterranean or something. Something with a little space between neighbors. It gives him a little more time to see which of his neighbors is coming to attack him and respond instead of trying to guess who's attacking him straight out based on nothing but in-game messaging.