Because of the experience and knowledge they've accumulated from playing multiple VRMMORPGs for the past couple of decades, the Five Leviathans, as well as the other organizations, formulated a plan that they used whenever they played a game for the first time.
Of course, that plan was none other than to gain as much levels as possible within a short span of time, which would give them all the strength they needed to be considered heads and shoulders above the entire player base.
Once they established their dominance as players with the reputation they had, they would then continue to maintain the gap of strength between them and the entire player base, forming a hierarchy of sorts where they stood at the very top.
Naturally, this kind of pattern did not occur in some of the games they played, considering that there were outliers and eccentric people that had the means and the might within those games to break the status quo that was formed.