There is no benefit to stealing at lower tiers. The money is low and people know you stole. I feel like there should be more of a added bonus of some sort to get people to steal more often. It's kind of boring when everyone just splits all the time. I usually try to keep my karma in good standing and above and only steal when i get to the high tiers.
The story: The sorcerer captures many people and puts them into chests
other games: They all open chests and find people.
Also all the games are posted near the end of each month. Coincidence?
 "Split Or Steal"){kind=icon}
 "Sticky Sorcerer"){kind=icon}
 "The Fancy Pants Adventure: World 2 demo"){kind=icon}