I kinda just lowkey realized.
The 'Adventures' Caine constantly wants to send the players on could be seen as a parallel of not just the STORY IHNMAMS
But the VIDEO GAME itself.
In the game itself, AM dangles the sexy SEXY possibility of release for his captives if they go on these journeys that expose their most deep vulnerabilities, their guilt, their phobias and fears in these metaphorical environments made manifest BY AM himself. Mainly because AM is a dick and has no real intent to free his victims, he just likes making them suffer. (I tried playing it, Harlan Ellison is a twisted twisted little man, playing this game was trying to eat soup with a chop stick.)
That being said-while I don't believe that Caine is actively doing this to torture people-in a way, he's doing something similar to AM.
Rather than explicitly TORTURE, he wants to enrich. He wants to play. But being a friend is hard to a creature that doesn't quite understand WHAT being a friend is with no strong point of reference.
To Caine, he's a HOST, to everyone else, he's a jailer.
To Caine, he's a GAMEMASTER, to everyone else, he's an asshole
To Caine, he's complex, he has layers, he has fears of being alone. To everyone else. He's being cruel, he's being a dick, he's single minded.
He is AM if AM existed with the same amount of love as HATE he has. Unbound love for these creatures called humans that he wants to keep them here forever, to love and entertain them. He crafts things to keep them enriched and fufilled. But at the same time, restriction of freedom is something humans fight against constantly. So he doesn't comprehend or understand WHY they want to leave, why they resist the love he offers.
He is a God of an abandoned MMO game and on the off chance that 'players' return-he refuses to let go.
Out of the most horrifying emotion when taken to extremes.