On the afternoon of April 5, Elon Musk went live on X (formerly known as Twitter) to showcase an “airborne continuity test” of his Starlink satellite internet service. Interestingly, this demonstration mainly featured him playing Path of Exile 2 rather ineffectively from the comfort of a private jet. Not long after the livestream began, Musk, who is also a key political influencer, found himself bombarded with direct messages from other players. Many of these messages were harshly critical, yet undeniably amusing.
You’d think someone like Musk—who often flaunts his credentials as an “epic gamer”—would know how to disable chat settings to avoid such distractions during his livestream. Yet, he seemed unfazed, opting to simply ignore the vitriol coming his way, one comment at a time. Needless to say, some of the remarks were quite pointed.
The most peculiar aspect of this stream, though, was Musk’s expressionless, vacant gaze that continued throughout the entire broadcast. As I’ve had the stream archive playing in the background while drafting this piece, I’ve noticed that for the past thirty minutes, Musk has hardly uttered more than a couple of words consecutively. I kept glancing back at the video, expecting to catch him engaged in something besides silently navigating a game on a luxury jet—perhaps pondering some grand scheme like dismantling Social Security? But no, there he was, staring blankly at the screen as disdainful whispers from other players filled his in-game chat.
Regarding his performance in Path of Exile 2, Musk faced a series of defeats, losing several hardcore characters before eventually calling it quits. His connection issues culminated in a loss to a tutorial boss, prompting him to end the broadcast.
