It’s basically a hawk and dove situation. Ideally there would be a bunch of doves cooperating. However with even a single hawk attacking the doves, non-dove measures must be taken against the hawks.

What is this supposed to mean in this context?

The difference is that there are not 2 players picking strategies, but many players choosing to play or not to play. The other difference is that the prize of the game is unknown and the timeline is also unknown.

Yes choosing to play is picking dove and choosing not to play is picking hawk.

Good point