A theory: The Game will present itself as a false friend.

Instead of The Game going on the offensive like most of the other Natural Enemies, The Game has been intentionally sitting back and portraying itself as "the nice one" to lure in new victims.

The world sucks, you barely have enough food to avoid starvation, and rampaging Natural Enemies could wipe you out without warning. But thenThe Game offers you a shiny metal pod to protect you from attacks, all the food and water you could ever want, and it'll even give you the most exhilarating entertainment you could possibly imagine. A lot of desperate people would take that offer.

Of course, cut to two weeks later when the pod won't open, your brain's reward circuits have burned out completely, and The Game has been slowly ratcheting up the cruelty evey time you plug in...