Halo Infinite's multiplayer launched a month early last week and odds are many of you will have been playing it pretty religiously since. Some of the thoughts that would have regularly crossed your mind while playing probably included strategy, what weapons you like most, and how long you'll keep telling yourself “one more game” before finally getting some sleep between marathon Infinite sessions. Odds are you haven't thought much about when Master Chief and the other Spartans are peeing.
To be fair, outside of something like The Sims where you actively have to make sure your creations don't pee on the floor, you probably don't think about when video game characters need to relieve themselves. Turns out a lot of people responsible for creating Halo over the years have. Polygon recently spoke with some of them, and Master Chief's toilet habits differ depending on who you ask.
The one thing everyone who was asked can agree on is that Master Chief does not remove his suit to do his business. It would be such an ordeal that by the time he did, he probably would have wet himself anyway. The most telling explanation of all came from Halo writer Joseph Staten. “[He] doesn’t have time to worry about bodily fluids. He’s got more important things to do, and clearly [...] he just does that in the suit,” Staten explained.
There was no mention of a catheter from Staten, something that was briefly mentioned in the 2011 book Halo: Glasslands. Just Master Chief peeing directly into his suit as he goes about his business, which is what led directly into a conversation about the smell. “Someone’s like, ‘I wonder what Chief smells like?’ and I was able to rattle off a long explanation of just how awful it is,” Microsoft creative director Fran O'Connor clarified.
After you've read this article and you jump back into Infinite, Master Chief's toilet habits and the fact he probably stinks of pee probably won't cross your mind all that often. However, now that you know, every now and again, while engaged in a fierce battle with other Spartans from all over the world, you'll think to yourself, “I wonder if he's peeing right now?”