Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain Humiliates Players With Chicken Hat

<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> I failed to specify that 30% (again, random number) can't be dominated by a subgroup. It has to be representative of the entire target audience. If 30% of people who play MGS 5 to see the story, and they are the only ones to use the hat on a mission, I agree that's a convenience or a choice, not a problem.

<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> I think everyone should be able to play the way they want. That's one of my core principles; I'm sorry if I came off sounding otherwise. I'm talking about one point in game design.

A few people's usage doesn't warrant public discussion. I don't know what percentage of players have to use the hat on a mission, when not using it habitually for similar missions or the game, for me to consider it a problem. I have no basis for calculation, so I'll just pull something out: 30%?

<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> That's not the point being discussed. And it's a weak, non-sensible argument many people make when in defense of a game design fault.

A game can be consistently challenging from the beginning, like the Souls games. A game can offer a diverse array of activities as its premise, challenging each player to some activities he/she doesn't normally do. A game can have side activities for enjoyment. In none of these cases will the "chicken hat" be used in the way I described. However, when an otherwise fluid RPG suddenly throws up a grind wall, or when a puzzle game suddenly shoots up a dexterity bar, these are design failures, usually.

MGS 5 is an open world game, so I expect more missions that diverge from stealth gameplay. That's not a problem, although I think Kojima is tipping the hat to that possibility. A problem would be a key mission leads to many players' using the hat but not for similar missions before or after.