In my country SCP was popular only because stupid youtubers who do a stupid names for them like 106 - Lazarus 173 - Blinky. And All kids who watch them just started invading the servers...
Probably the whole "power fantasy thing" works for people who like to play as guards, meanwhile you have a nice niche for the trollers in people playing as SCP or any of the numerous silly jobs available, IMO it simply has a lot of niches and just about anyone can hop into their preferred one.