I would say yes.
An understanding of the concepts comes into play often. Specific formulas and and higher levels maybe not. But the ability to construct equations with unknowns, or variables, is a necessity.

And knowing some of the magic of algebra will open up solutions and methods that could otherwise be a lot more work or complex than it needs to be.

Not really. You can package it together with an interpreter so it functions similar to a binary. But you'd have a much smaller program to upload/download if you just sent the script and let them download the python runtime interpreter themselves. That is as much an advantage as disadvantage.
Most people who do more than just browse the internet will end up installing various runtime packages for languages like this anyway.

The difference between a scripting language and a programming language is that scripts do not need to be compiled, but do need an interpreter, while a program must be compiled but does not need an interpreter.

Other than that they are more or less the same thing, though scripts are almost always a higher level language.

Python doesn't. It is a scripting language, so no need to compile. But anyone that wants to run it must have a python interpreter on their system.

A language like C uses a compiler to turn the code into an exe.

This is very true. Something I am aware of, but it was good advice for you to point out.

It's actually a very complex thing learning how to 'interpret' the feedback in a useful way. I'm become somewhat proficient at it in contexts where the feedback was mandatory. Often I find that the information the user stresses the most can be the least valuable, and sometimes it's the things they don't say that tell me the most.

But all of that is worthless unless I have the feedback first.

I am well aware of #2 from in past. It is not a problem in this case. I almost wish it was. At least when they are being assholes, they list weak points in the game. I have a thick skin and no human feelings, so I can handle that.

I am getting very positive comments that give me little usable information. They help reassure me that I'm not the only one who thinks it's a good game idea, but they don't help build on it.

Ha, this game is definitely not mainstream. About as far from it as you can get.

I have no problem with feedback from outliers. But I just fear getting a skewed perspective if I only hear outliers.
Also, I do not mean outliers from society. I mean outliers from my target audience. Which is not a mainstream audience. This is a niche game.

I can't get accurate times. But best indications are that median time is around 45-60 mins per session. Which for an alpha game that lacks a lot of content, is far higher than I had anticipated. Many last less than 5 minutes before they realize it is not a game style they are interested in, so that pulls the average down.

Even at 30 mins, that's a pretty good amount of time for a game in this state.

My best guess is that it is not boring, since I am getting about 40% returning visitors. So people are coming back to play it again.

That would be the best advice for someone who want to ease into it.

But there is a theory that sometimes starting with a low level language will force a person to learn the proper way to do things from the start.
It would take longer to learn, but they wouldn't have to spend the next few years unlearning the bad habits they had picked up from loose languages.

I can believe this. Pretty sure a couple programs I have written were entirely cut and pasted from there.

Ctrl-c ctrl-v are my most used programming keys.