I think the problem is that "these noobs"
are completly unaware of dos-box as a dos emu. By saying "compatible with db" it's like "compatible? ok. so what? I want the game, not some dos-something". So yeah
you're
way ahead of them. The trick is to
force them to become aware of dos-box as an emu NEEDED to play those games, in a sneaky (?) manner.