Wonder if I am only one thinking Halliday being one of the greatest arseholes casted as semigod in fiction? I mean, it is fine to be into 80's, but using your massive wealth to impose that obsession to everyone else does not score high points for me.
Does he impose it though, or just uses it as a filter to find the next game administrator? He doesn't enforces anybody to participate. Perhaps comparable to a requirement list for a job, though it's a bit of a specific requirement.