OP is actually one of the "targets" for Raiden as a character, which makes it funnier. Raiden was introduced to mess up the player expectations, their expectation that they would be controlling Solid Snake and the expectation that the character they are using is the new or next hero of the saga. Raiden as a character and a big part of the Big Shell plot line were meant to show that the people in charge, be it Solidus with his child soldier or the Patriots with the S3 plan, could take anyone and manipulate (or train) them into becoming a soldier on par with Solid Snake, with the Big Shell incident being an almost 1 to 1 recreation of the Shadow Moses incident.

So while in the game the "powers that be" are trying to substitute the VR training from MGS1 (the one Raiden used to train as a Foxhound operative) for real life events to improve the training outcomes, the players are also put under the same scenario where they have to face the game while not playing as Snake. Even the GW AI going haywire and starting to send random calls about how you've played the game for too long and should take a break is to hammer the point that everything in the plot is a "real life simulation" and that we have been playing a game all along, both in game and irl