How would I modify Mutliplayer Shootout example to add a menu-chosen Hat Color?

I ask this question, not because I’m interested in the template demo but how I might modify it to accomodate a player-specific chosen value is propagated to a new level despite the barrier that the level load represents. GameInstance seems to be the only thing that persists on a level load shared by both clients and server that crosses the level load boundary in multiplayer. (The MainMenu level is seperate from the player level)

Where can I store player specific information? The only hack seem to save it to a file and restore it in the level load (which I don’t mind as an option but it seems like it shouldn’t be the official solution).

I think the example of the Multiplayer Shootout would demonstrate that necessary multiplayer feature.