Elon Musk riles up a new corner of the internet: Gamers

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Elon Musk is clashing with online critics once again, this time with the video game community.

The tech mogul has recently taken a break from his duties as SpaceX CEO and advisor to President-elect Donald Trump to respond to criticisms from some specialized gaming content creators. He has pushed back against claims that he's not truly a gamer despite his self-proclaimed status in the gaming community.

The accusations are like a case of fake bravery in video games, focused on some recent live online streams in which Musk played Path of Exile 2, a popular online role-playing game where players choose from various characters to stop corruption from spreading in the imaginary world of Wraeclast. Playing on hardcore mode like Musk does, when a character gets killed, the death is final. As gamers play, their characters get stronger and more capable by leveling up.

In the world, when they were living (two characters tied to Musk have since passed away and are now in the 30s and 200s, respectively). The levels of Musk’s now-deceased characters would take dozens if not hundreds of hours to achieve through gameplay, depending on the gamer. However, it seems that Musk's own skills in this area are rather lacking, according to some gamers.

“He’s being taken to task for something that isn't relevant and has no significance. It’s unimportant and intended to serve no useful purpose.”

For the game, some people accused Musk of having someone "boost" his account, or playing for him. Others suggested that he's actually playing using a more skilled player's account.

The controversy surrounding Elon Musk's gaming skills grew when social media influencers Hoyt and other popular gamers began speaking up, sharing videos on YouTube that have received millions of views and spreading to other platforms, including X. They pointed out what they claimed were instances where Musk demonstrated he's not the top-notch player he claims to be, such as skipping valuable game items that most players carefully collect.

Elon Musk spent most of Thursday morning responding to allegations against him and attacking Hoyt by saying that he excels at "caustic commentary" but is not skilled at playing video games.

Hoyt later shared that he had been unfollowed by Musk and that the blue check mark on his X account had been removed (his blue check mark has since been restored).

Musk failed to respond to a request for comment via email.

The online gaming community is vast, boasting an endless buzz of message boards, chat rooms, and user-generated videos featuring critiques of popular, intricate, and time-consuming games, as well as discussions about community gossip and drama.

The community has a somewhat casual code of ethics: They really respect players who put in the time to get good at a game and improve their character, but that respect is earned - not bought. Famous gamers are welcome -- but they're also closely watched, especially when they make big claims.

Musk has been under scrutiny from the gaming community for some time. In 2022, some online gamers noticed that the way Musk, who frequently discussed his experience and enjoyment of the game Elden Ring, structured his character with redundancies an experienced gamer wouldn't typically make, such as equipping two large swords and two large shields, which would hinder his magical abilities.

On "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast in November of last year, in which he claimed to be among the top 20 players in the world for Diablo IV, another ARPG like Path of Exile 2.

Now, that figure has been viewed more than 4.6 million times.

Others have wondered how Musk is able to fulfill his duties as SpaceX CEO, and also lead X, while also getting ready for his role in the incoming Trump administration, where he will head the new Department of Government Efficiency, if he is spending many hours per day playing games.

According to Musk, video games are a method he employs to relax himself, aside from performing other duties such as attending to his businesses and raising his children.

He mentioned that playing video games is the one thing he uses as a hobby to unwind and calm his mind. Some days can be really difficult, and playing video games is his unusual source of comfort.

In the November podcast episode,

"In my final semester of college, I probably spent more time playing Quake than I did on all of my college coursework," Musk told Rogan, noting that at one point Musk was among the best Quake players in the world.

This article was originally published in the English language.