i don't think it captures entire picture. it's pete thiel, self hating gay rubbing shoulders with nazis, vanquisher of gawker, surveiller of facebook, all-seeing eye of DoD and so on and so on, at some point figured that he's 50 and won't live forever, and this made him scared. it made him so scared that he bought into transhumanism hook line and sinker, wants to be frozen in liquid nitrogen when that motherfucker finally croaks, but he's also afraid of that, so he also bought into untested life-extension and performance-enhancement supplements as well. because no sane ethical board would allow for clinical trial for these (and it's obviously 1984, not like it would be in his imagined libertarian cyberpunk future) he made enhanced games as a means to source willing participants, so that he will take some of these scam pills only after these are tested on the poors (by his people)