Flaming someone because of a differing opinion/different point of view won't exactly help building a userbase. The problem was, many stuff we know about this game is taken for granted. We know why we like it, we know the fun bits and the less fun bits.
But presenting it to a group who had no idea about the existence of this game is challenging. Many compare it Minecraft at first, because that's what they are familiar with and it looks like Minecraft to them. It is perfectly natural, no need to be condescending about it. So what should be done instead is to show people more cool stuff you can do with this game which you can't really do in other similar games. Heed mentioned racing, skiing and whatnot.
And being patient wouldn't hurt either, after all we are the door-to-door salesman and they are the residents. They could slam the door on us anytime.
