According to one of Elon Musks gamer buddies, the controversy surrounding Musks use of boosted characters in Diablo IV and Path of Exile 2 is a big misunderstanding. In a DM exchange on X, Musk told streamer NikoWrex that he did, indeed, pay people to play video games for him. According to Musk, everyone at the highest level is doing it so its fine. At the same time he was preparing to sit at the right hand of President Donald Trump, the worlds richest man was beefing with people online about video games. At the beginning of the year, Musk did a livestream of his Path of Exile 2 character on X. It was weird. According to high-level players with a lot of knowledge of the game, Musk didnt seem to know what he was doing. And his account had tell-tale signs of a guy whod paid to have someone else level it. The gamers called him out and Musk began to publicly fight the allegations. At one point Grimes, the mother of three of his children, even took to X to defend Musks gaming honor. https://x.com/Grimezsz/status/1880685503009443921 Two days ago, NikoWrex posted a YouTube video that he said cleared the whole thing up. Musk wont respond to questions from The Wall Street Journal about his gaming habits but he will, apparently, answer a DM from a gaming buddy on X. With Musks permission, NikoWrex posted the transcript of a conversation hed had with the billionaire on X where he asked him about the controversy outright. Have you level boosted (had someone had someone else play your accounts) and/or purchased gear/ resources for PoE 2 and Diablo 4? NikoWrex asked.Musk responded with a 100 percent emoji. But when I post a video of a game or am streaming, thats 100% me, Musk clarified. Its impossible to beat the players in Asia if you dont, as they do! Musk styles himself as a master gamer, its a big part of his personality and personal brand. The use of boosted characters in games like Diablo and PoE 2 isnt unheard of, but it is controversial. Getting a character to max level can be a grueling task that takes hundreds of hours and gamers have long questioned how it was that Musk was able to get characters up that high while hanging out with Trump and helming multiple companies. NikoWrex asked if Musk intended to take credit for leveling a character to max. No, Musk said. Never claimed that. The top accounts in Diablo or PoE require multiple people playing the account to win the leveling race. Musk is admitting the central claim of the gaming communitys critiques against him: He isnt leveling the accounts himself. Its weird. He could have, if he wanted to, diffused a lot of the drama by just stating this clearly upfront. Instead, he chose to beef with prominent gaming streamers like Asmongold when they called him out.NikoWrex asked about the fight with Asmongold. Musk unfollowed the streamer on X, pulled his blue check, and leaked his DMs without his permission. He seemed to imply that Asmongold wasnt his own person because he worked with editors. Asmongold seemed to require permission from others to stream on X, suggesting he doesnt control his own destiny Musk told NikoWrex. Musk then touted several of his achievements in Diablo 4, even namechecking one that Grimes said she witnessed firsthand.At the end of the conversation, Musk said he would consider allowing Asmongold to stream a SpaceX launch. But he has to admit that I am a living god of video games. . A few days after this conversation, the self-professed living god of video games would appear to Sieg Heil during Trumps inauguration celebration. Twice. While biting his lip.