Well, if we made it more like the fictional Hunger Games, we can eliminate hide-n-pray strategies with random (moderator/admin triggered) events that would render such a strategy akin of lying down and dying on one’s own. Such as…

Player A finds a jungle tree they can climb pretty far up; they punch a hole in the side and cover it back up with the logs to hide. The admin/mods sweep, find this person has pretty much turtled up, set fire to the tree and surrounding trees to provoke action such as forcing the player towards others.

Player B digs a hole 5 blocks deep, covers the top up with 3 dirt. Admin/mods sweep, find the person has made their own tomb, spawn a small volcano there with minimal warning. Alternatively, earthquake occurs that opens up a passage… with monsters inside.

As for the center-deathtrap… that’s intentional, I suppose. No guts, no glory… someone has potential to get the goods without dying.