The kind of people who fuck with the Lament Configuration deliberately are usually the types who's base desires are so far gone into the extreme that they'll do anything to feel something greater. They're promised the 'ultimate experience of sensation' and that's what they get. For all the destruction it renders onto the body and the soul. The other types are those who know what it will do, and are trying to transcend mortality to become Cenobites themselves. Frank Cotton was the kind of psychopath who would done it anyway if he knew what opening the box would result in, just to experience it. Dr. Channard in the sequel knew what was going to happen and was trying to achieve apotheosis by becoming a Cenobite himself, which he ultimately accomplishes.