Well, I mean, SD could give some rewards for those who completed the tutorial. This is another way to “force” players to do it.
Should the tutorial be forced?
I’m also for “make it rewarding” instead of “make it mandatory”. Move some of the level 4 credits to the tutorials, e.g. 3K for completing the tutorial, 3K for completing the assault course, 5K for completing the assault course with bronze or better. Also consider adding Steam achievements for them to make the entitlement generation happy.
I think it should be mandatory. If people cannot commit to a 5 minute tutorial to actually learn the game, then I question the reason for wanting to play a team based game.
Sure some people might understand the game pretty well even before playing it (by having a friend who plays, or watching streams, etc) but that just means they should definitely have no issues completing a short tutorial to ensure they are are an effective teammate.
If anything, it helps to ensure that your keybinds are in order before jumping into a live game.