Elon Musk’s Ongoing Showdown with Gamers: A Battle He’s Bound to Lose

Elon Musk is indeed a player. He certainly engages in video gaming. There’s no substantial reason to argue against that.

However, he is not among the elite gamers worldwide, a fact he tends to want everyone to accept. But the communities surrounding those games are not convinced and have launched a campaign to publicly ridicule Musk regarding his assertions, pulling him into immature online spats. Battles he cannot, and will never, triumph over with this audience.

The most recent conflict features Musk and renowned streamer Asmongold seemingly clashing after Asmon created a video, similar to many other creators, scrutinizing all the glaring blunders Musk made while claiming to be one of the top players in Path of Exile 2. There were errors or gaps in understanding that anyone with a character of that caliber and that many hours played would not commit, hence the narrative that Musk might be compensating others to level up his characters for him, a practice that may have also occurred back in the Diablo era. The exchange led to Musk jokingly referencing a Chinese “pilot” for his account, while also seemingly unfollowing Asmongold, temporarily removing his verification checkmark, and leaking private messages, misunderstanding the dynamics of a YouTube creator/editor relationship as he attempted some sort of “gotcha” that was quickly community noted on his own platform.

Though Musk may rank among the most influential individuals on the planet, managing vast corporations, having the attention of the President, and approaching the possibility of becoming the world’s first trillionaire, for reasons that are somewhat difficult to comprehend, he also aspires to assert that he is a leading gamer globally.

Even with an entourage of blue-check supporters in his replies affirming his claimed gaming abilities, Musk’s legion cannot measure up to gamers who feel their passion is being appropriated by someone, irrespective of his influence, to make misleading statements about his skills. Path of Exile 2 enthusiasts have been mocking Musk since these videos surfaced, and the reactions from YouTubers and streamers ridiculing his gameplay have garnered millions of views.

The issue arises when Musk claims to be knowledgeable about games in which he is evidently not an authority. He possesses sufficient knowledge to get by, but top-tier gameplay eludes him unless he is using a character so powerful that it becomes irrelevant. Recognizing that is straightforward to tens of thousands of players who have a greater understanding than he does.

This also branches into instances like the cringe-inducing DM leak with Asmongold, embarrassing for him as when Asmongold discusses collaborating with his editors, Elon seems to misinterpret this as a newspaper-like “editor” dynamic where Asmongold is “not his own man” as he must respond to someone else. In truth, this simply refers to a team of editors who edit content from major streamers’ clips and post them on YouTube, a common occurrence. It’s yet another area Musk lacks awareness in and when he pretends to understand, he is criticized by community members.

There exists a theory that parallels Barack Obama’s jest at Donald Trump during the White House Correspondents Dinner, which commenced his journey towards presidency. This concept suggests Musk’s desire to be recognized as a top-tier gamer originated when the Elden Ring build he shared became an instant meme due to how poor it was. However, back then Elon was not asserting to be one of the premier Elden Ring players globally. Now he is doing so with Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2, but this time with other individuals allegedly grinding his characters on his behalf. Undoubtedly, they would have crafted him a superior Elden Ring build.

Elon Musk can attempt to deceive gamers, argue with them, or publish their DMs in contradiction to his own Terms of Service. More than with liberals, Tesla detractors, or any other factions he clashes with, this is one struggle he is never going to prevail in.

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Discover my science fiction novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.