According to one of Elon Musk’s players, the controversy surrounding Musk’s use of enhanced characters in the Diablo IV and Path of exile 2 is a big misunderstanding. In a DM exchange on X, Musk told streamer NikoWrex that he was indeed paying people to play video games for him. According to Musk, everyone at the highest level is doing it so it’s fine.
At the same time as he was preparing to sit to the right of President Donald Trump, the richest man in the world was debating video games with people online. At the beginning of the year, Musk made his livestream Path of exile 2 character on X. It was weird.
According to high level players with a lot of knowledge about the game, Musk he didn’t seem to know what he was doing. And his bill had the signs of a guy who paid to have someone else settle it. Players called him out and Musk began publicly fighting the allegations. At one point, Grimes, the mother of his three children, even went to X to defend Musk’s gaming honor.
Two days ago, NikoWrex posted a YouTube video that he said cleared the whole thing up. Musk will not answer questions The Wall Street Journal about his gaming habits, but will apparently respond to a DM from a gaming friend on X. With Musk’s permission, NikoWrex released a transcript of a conversation he had with the billionaire on X, asking him directly about the controversy.
“Have you leveled up (had someone else play your accounts) and/or bought gear/resources for PoE 2 and Diablo 4?” NikoWrex asked.
Musk responded with a “100 percent” emoticon. “But when I release video games or stream, it’s 100% me,” Musk clarified. “It’s impossible to beat the players in Asia if you don’t, like they do!”
Musk styles himself as a top gamer, it’s a big part of his personality and personal brand. The use of enhanced characters in games like Diablo and PoE 2 it is not unheard of, but it is controversial. Maxing out a character can be a painstaking task that takes hundreds of hours, and players have long wondered how Musk was able to raise characters so high while hanging out with Trump and running multiple companies.
NikoWrex asked if Musk intended to take credit for raising the character to max. “No,” Musk said. “I never claimed that. The best accounts in Diablo or PoE require more people playing the account to win the leveling race.”
Musk acknowledges the central point of the gamer community’s criticism against him: he doesn’t settle the accounts himself. It’s strange. He could have, if he wanted to, resolved a lot of drama by making it clear upfront. instead, he chose beef with prominent gaming streamers like Asmongold when they called him out.
NikoWrex asked about the fight with Asmongold. Musk unfollowed a streamer on Xu, pulled out his blue check and released his DMs without his permission. He seemed to imply that Asmongold was not his person because he worked with the editors.
“Asmongold appears to be asking permission from others to stream on X, suggesting that he is not in control of his own destiny,” Musk told NikoWrex. Musk then touted several of his accomplishments in the diablo 4, even the name checking that Grimes said she witnessed firsthand.
At the end of the conversation, Musk said he would consider allowing Asmongold to broadcast a SpaceX launch. “But he has to admit that I’m the living god of video games. 🤣🤣.”
A few days after this conversation, the self-proclaimed “living god of video games” would appear. Sieg Heil during Trump’s inauguration celebration. Twice. While biting his lip.