Puppeting can be alright, I think if it's more an attitude of imagining what they would do. Not sure how things are going for you guys now - my usual advice is to not constrain interaction to set 'forcing' times, but to narrate etc., but you might be already doing that.
Also, welcome. Like Bernd said this place can be quiet but there are people here. I do enjoy reading the few PRs here once in a while, even if I don't drop by super often. And sorry about not being able to register, that was a result of my incompetence.