Put yourself in MA's shoes and try to explain the game without using words "gambling", "slot-machine" and "luck"
With their business model MA can't speak open even if they wanted to. And if they modify the model, it will be completely different game, maybe more populated but surely not RCE. We don't generate any real product inside the game, don't really increase the RL value of assets, it's a self-contained system where every gain has a complementary loss somewhere. With strategies and planning involved, you may call it rather a poker than a slot-machine, but it's still a gambling. It might not scare off potential players (even if of a specific kind), but go ahead and try to put it in press-releases without facing legal consequences. So being reticent is unfortunately the only way to go.
But we ourselves often do the same.
While mentoring or just helping new people, I usually follow one of the 2 main approaches: 1) explaining small momentary things, like how to select the most eco gear and hunt for MU, without revealing that no matter how eco you're, it's still a slow death from thousands cuts and more and more deposits are inevitable. Basically, teaching to fish without telling that the whole lake is poisoned; 2) fully explaining the grand picture, how small is the chance to become self-sustainable and how much time and money one's going to spend
trying to reach that goal, how the more skilled you're the tougher and costly it become - contrary to what they usually expect, how he'll never get any close to the stats of "that guy with 150 agility" he admires, etc etc;
Needless to say that the second approach kills the mood instantly. I only do this if I see that the guy have courage and funds to embark on that path. If I'm wrong - it's a quit, either instantly or after a few days of hesitations (constant losses in the meanwhile don't help much). More often I'm wrong.
With the first approach, the guy enjoys the game for months before he realizes he's not going to quit his main job any time soon, and by that time he most likely loves the game or community too much to just abandon everything. The path that most of us who's currently around have walked in past.