Why Are People Calling Elon Musk A 'Fraud Gamer'? Theories About Musk Faking His 'Path of Exile 2' Rank Explained

Hardcore Path of Exile players are up in arms about Elon Musk's juiced-up level 95 character in the RPG fighter game. After Elon Musk hosted a live stream where he tried to show off his stacked character in the game's incredibly tough "hardcore" league, veteran PoE players began dissecting his clips to figure out why he seems so out of touch with a game he supposedly spends hours a day grinding away at.

This isn't the first time Musk has claimed to be an accomplished gamer; it was only a few months ago that he claimed to have snagged the level 19 spot in Diablo 4, all the while meddling in various political affairs both in America and around the world. People are now growing suspicious of whether Musk is actually taking the time to play these games, or if he has hired someone to "grind" at them so he can claim the laurels for himself. Here's a recap of the bizarre ""Fraud Gamer" accusations against Elon Musk.":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/elon-musk-fraud-gamer-controversy

Why Are 'Path of Exile 2' Fans Calling Elon Musk a Fraud?

In his neverending quest to make X the Everything App Elon Musk "tested" the site's live streaming capabilities on January 7th, showing off his level 95 hardcore league character in Path of Exile 2 in the process.

Testing X Streaming https://t.co/f8LmyeSUHR

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2025

Those who play PoE 2 would know that surviving the game's hardcore league at a higher level is no joke. The game stacks enemies, lowers your defenses, and even kills your character once and for all when you die in the game. Which is why when veteran PoE player Quin69TV posted a video reacting to Musk's stream, he appeared visibly confused.

"He's never played this game before has he," Quin said, minutes into Musk clicking around on the game. He notes how Musk tried to click on a map that wasn't unlocked yet, how he didn't empty his inventory before entering a new dungeon, and how he let critical rare items like Chaos Orbs unclaimed. Most damningly, Quin noticed that Musk had a tab named "Elon's map," seemingly referring to himself in the third person.

Why Do People Think Musk Wasn't Piloting His 'Path of Exile 2' Character?

Quinn wasn't the only person who noticed that something was very "off" about Musk's gameplay. YouTuber Casual Kripp posted a video reacting to Quin's video on January 8th, expressing the same skepticism about Musk's PoE achievements. Kripp also made it a point to look into publically available data about players of the game, noting that Musk was either "playing from Asia or VPN to play from Asia."

Also on January 8th, 2024, Redditor /u/InstructionOk1175 made a comprehensive post on /r/PathOfExile2 documenting the various aspects of Elon's stream that led other players to suspect that he may not be piloting his character.

Documenting the Saga of "Elon Musk's" Account byu/InstructionOk1175 inPathOfExile2

How Did Other People React To The Theory That Elon Musk Is Faking Being A Gamer?

YouTuber Asmongold also accused Elon of "account sharing" in subsequent days, posting a video titled, "Massive Elon Musk Scandal" on January 9th. "Trying to have somebody play your account and get people to think you’re a serious, real gamer, is ridiculous," he said, adding, "It’s embarrassing."

On January 11th, YouTuber Quin69TV posted a video to his X account @quinrex, asking, "is @ElonMusk lying about being good at video games?" The video delved into Quin69TV's theory that Musk is hiring people to grind for him in video games and taking credit for their work. The post gathered over 6,000 likes in a day.

is @ElonMusk lying about being good at video games? pic.twitter.com/TDGb4vsgXf

— Quin (@quinrex) January 11, 2025

On January 10th, Redditor /r/JRoyales made a post to /r/PathofExile2 that read, "Elon just died at rank 7," gathering over 7,000 points in two days.

Musk seemingly had nothing to say to all his critics besides a tweet he made the day he posted the livestream, assuring his followers that plenty of high-ranked players on the leaderboard had all died.

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For the full history of Elon Musk "Fraud Gamer" Controversy, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.