Anyone who runs a company needs a way to de-stress. For some CEOs that might mean golf or sailing. For Elon Musk, who runs or owns Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter), the main method is playing video games.

“It calms my mind. Killing the demons in a video game calms the demons in my mind,” Musk told podcaster Lex Fridman in an episode released Friday. He added later, “I’ve played a lot of video games because it’s my primary recreational activity.”

The world’s richest man also said, “My mind is a storm. I don’t think most people would want to be me. They may think they would want to be me, but they don’t, they don’t know, they don’t understand.”

Musk’s longtime companion Grimes, with whom he has three children, told biographer Walter Isaacson that Musk has no “hobbies or ways to relax other than video games, but he takes those so seriously that it gets very intense.”

Among his favorite titles is The Battle of Polytopia, billed as a “strategy game about building a civilization and going into battle.” Players compete to control resources and develop technologies, and they wage battles in order to build an empire. Musk’s brother Kimbal told Isaacson that his famous sibling said Polytopia “would teach me to be a CEO like he was.” The game was also fodder for a series of life and business lessons for Elon, with the first one being, “Empathy is not an asset.”

Another favorite of Musk’s is Elden Ring, centered on war and empire-building, which he told Fridman was a “candidate for the best game ever, top five for sure.” He added that it’s “incredibly creative” with “stunning” art.

“Beating hatred in the internal realm,” he added, “is the hardest boss battle in life and in the video game.”

Musk’s game-playing has also preceded some key business decisions. He pulled the trigger on buying Twitter right after playing Elden Ring until five in the morning, Grimes told Isaacson.

Mostly, Musk seems to use video games to get into a certain zone.

“If you play a tough video game, you can get into a state of flow which is very enjoyable. Admittedly it needs to be not too easy, not too hard—kind of in the Goldilocks zone,” he told Fridman.

“I guess you generally want to feel like you’re progressing in the game. And there’s also beautiful art, engaging storylines, and it’s like an amazing puzzle to solve.”

  • WoofWoof91 [comrade/them]
    hexbear
    73
    7 months ago

    Another favorite of Musk’s is Elden Ring, centered on war and empire-building

    did i play a different elden ring?

      • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
        hexagon
        hexbear
        30
        7 months ago

        Int/Dex build, so mostly mage with some weapon skills. Shield in left hand, staff in right with rapier & claws fast switch.

        Change armor from heavy to medium for fast roll or tank.

        Move talismans around a lot.

        Many small hits in a row to damage stack is important.

        Summon!

        melon-musk

    • barrbaric [he/him]
      hexbear
      30
      7 months ago

      Elden Ring is about how even the premier imperial power is nothing more than a puppet for an elder god, used and forgotten in a war whose goals are unknown and whose enemies are largely indigenous peoples or blowback to their own political actions.

      And how that is very cool and good, obviously.

    • @M500@lemmy.ml
      hexbear
      18
      7 months ago

      I didn’t play the game, but I was skeptical when I saw that.

      It sounds like they are trying to make it sound like everything he does is to build his empire.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      hexbear
      13
      7 months ago

      He saw some amazing blue curtains in one of the set pieces.

  • FALGSConaut [comrade/them]
    hexbear
    66
    7 months ago

    Money is wasted on the rich. He could be doing literally anything in the fucking world and he's playing phone games. The only difference between him and an iPad kid is the amount of money he can spend on digital gems/gold coins/pay-to-play currencies. I fantasize about what I could do with a few thousand dollars and he burns that speeding up construction of his digital buildings and buying skins. Hell, he could commission a game made by any studio exactly to his fucking specifications but he still plays the same garbage as anyone else.

    • GarfieldYaoi [he/him]
      hexbear
      35
      7 months ago

      I've said it before and I'll say it again. Elon Musk could easily solve climate change with all the wealth he obtained from COVID that he got by sheer dumb luck, finance the future and be hailed as a hero for centuries and this was all part of his original brand too, I remember him publicizing the Tesla patents in the early 2010s. Sure, it might be a little dickish that he bought his way into heroism, but that's at least one existential threat neutralized and maybe he can have some rights to be braggy. He could do it right now, as a 100 billionaire, we've gotten to a point where money is meaningless to him, he literally dropped 44 billion dollars to own the libs so what if as a public apology to the state of California, he instead spent that 44 billion funding the high-speed rail? (Ok, you can stop laughing now).

      Not to mention the insurance capitalism would have:

      the-republican : "See? You can totally trust corporations!"

      the-democrat: "The bourgeoisie aren't the problem, it's good bourgeoisie vs bad bourgeoisie"

      • @Kaplya
        hexbear
        19
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        He is on the US government payroll.

        Just a few years ago Tesla almost went broke, it was the Federal Government that bailed the company out and facilitated the explosive hike of its share in the stock market. The vast majority of his wealth came thanks to the US government.

        He is ultimately limited by what Deep State wants him to do.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
        hexbear
        13
        7 months ago

        He wants to be seen as a humanity savior. He doesn't care about humanity whatoever except as a captive audience to whatever whims he has at the moment, the way a narcissistic father figure expects an entire household to toil and struggle for his amusement.

        • Philosoraptor [he/him, comrade/them]
          hexbear
          10
          7 months ago

          I think he wants to be seen as cool. Being marketed as a savior figure was one way into that, and was the one his PR firm took. After he fired them, he decided he could show everyone how cool he is by soypoint-1 posting memes soypoint-2

      • GarbageShoot [he/him]
        hexbear
        13
        7 months ago

        I give you a hard time a lot but this is a great point. He has everything at his disposal to make himself an uncontroversial hero in the mainstream that will still be pointed to as a hero for as long as liberal capitalism survives, it just requires actually solving a problem instead of hyping up investors that he'll solve a problem so he can sell them wildly overvalued stocks.

    • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
      hexagon
      hexbear
      19
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      Don't give him ideas or he'll make that game from Gamer (2009)

      Edit: oh god, this is what the brain chips are for sadness-abysmal

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
        hexbear
        16
        7 months ago

        Edit: oh god, this is what the brain chips are for

        I nonjokingly think he does want to build that particular Torment Nexus.

    • BeamBrain [he/him]
      hexbear
      17
      7 months ago

      Hell, he could commission a game made by any studio exactly to his fucking specifications

      Honestly, this is probably what I'd do if I got fuck you money

      • GarbageShoot [he/him]
        hexbear
        15
        7 months ago

        Yeah, me too, but imagine how awful a game commissioned and micro-managed by Musk would be

        • UlyssesT [he/him]
          hexbear
          9
          7 months ago

          Chris Roberts of Star Citizen infamy has so much in common with my-hero that he made himself LARP as his richer counterpart in his game's own lore.

          https://starcitizen.tools/Chris_Roberts_(lore)

          • WoofWoof91 [comrade/them]
            hexbear
            9
            7 months ago

            14 year old fanfiction writers solidarity 55 year old failed film directors

                       wish fulfillment self insert characters 
            
        • fox [comrade/them]
          hexbear
          8
          7 months ago

          Give a big pile of money to Remedy to make the most bonkers version of Control 2 possible

          • LENINSGHOSTFACEKILLA [he/him]
            hexbear
            4
            7 months ago

            I forgot Alan Wake 2 was coming out at the end of October so I just happened to be replaying Control before it dropped. So glad I did. All the FBC stuff in AW2 was awesome.

            • fox [comrade/them]
              hexbear
              5
              7 months ago

              They could give us a four hour monologue that's just Ahti directly translating Finnish turns of phrase and charge $60 and it'd sell.

    • Helmic [he/him]
      hexbear
      8
      7 months ago

      potential future: musk gets addicted to a mobile P2W PvP game and actually, literally spends billions of dollars as some random shitheel "game" dev studio struggles to make content fast enough to cater to exactly this one person.

  • carpoftruth [any, any]
    hexbear
    59
    7 months ago

    what a fucking self absorbed loser. just say you play video games for the same reason everyone else does- they're fun distractions. 'omg my brain is such a unique stormy snowflake that I respond to the same advertising stimuli as everyone else omg omg guys DAE have a storm in their head?????'

  • @CrushKillDestroySwag
    hexbear
    56
    7 months ago

    Elden Ring, centered on war and empire-building

    ...that is not how I would describe that fukken game.

    • rubpoll [she/her]
      hexbear
      29
      7 months ago

      The game's setting is pretty well thought-out for how one civilization builds its architecture on the ruins of another, and how old symbols get re-appropriated by conquerors. It has the visual distinctions of a world with a long lost history.

      There's a zero percent chance that's what Elmo meant. He meant "when you win, you get to sit on a throne and be King of the place"

      • Helmic [he/him]
        hexbear
        7
        7 months ago

        and also the empires are genocidal, including that aborted subplot where you're walking through a mass grave of the people who were really nice to you, just before being given the choice to burn everything down forever.

    • Mardoniush [she/her]
      hexbear
      20
      7 months ago

      I mean...it is...in the sense of "Do Not Build The Torment Nexus"

  • Awoo [she/her]
    hexbear
    53
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    He pulled the trigger on buying Twitter right after playing Elden Ring until five in the morning, Grimes told Isaacson.

    LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO data-laughing data-laughing data-laughing data-laughing data-laughing data-laughing data-laughing data-laughing data-laughing data-laughing data-laughing data-laughing data-laughing

  • happybadger [he/him]
    hexbear
    50
    7 months ago

    The Battle of Polytopia

    I get it, getting lost in a video game is cathartic, but I like that he's claiming to be a tortured genius while he "gets very intense" over a mobile game. He plays a Civilisation clone for children to "get into a certain zone" with "an amazing puzzle to solve".

    • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
      hexagon
      hexbear
      36
      7 months ago

      No, you don't get it. Playing a digital board game makes me a tactical genius. I'm the 21th Century Sun Tzu. smuglord

      No, I don't play chess or go, those games are for babies.

      • happybadger [he/him]
        hexbear
        31
        7 months ago

        Like at least play a Paradox strategy game or Civilisation proper. Either of those and you're at least doing strategic things designed for adults.

        • RyanGosling [none/use name]
          hexbear
          5
          7 months ago

          Bro can’t afford to play the real games after stripping his work PC to fund twitter’s operations

      • BeamBrain [he/him]
        hexbear
        10
        7 months ago

        I'd love to make him play Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm. Good luck figuring out why your Bradleys keep exploding, dipshit

  • Candidate [he/him]
    hexbear
    44
    7 months ago

    That sounds like ADHD.

    Which makes him throwing a fit about one of his ex-wives being on Adderall real fucking stupid.

  • TreadOnMe [none/use name]
    hexbear
    39
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    All the money in the world and he still just does what every poor person in their mid-20's does. I suppose it probably makes him feel 'different' than all of his peers, but this is pure neo-liberalism in action. Say what you will about the Romans, at least they appreciated the spectacular.

    • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
      hexagon
      hexbear
      33
      7 months ago

      Dude could literally hire out historical reenactors to play a live war game, but he's obsessing over a mid af mobile game lol

        • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
          hexagon
          hexbear
          20
          7 months ago

          I sure don't react to phone games like

          Among his favorite titles is The Battle of Polytopia, billed as a “strategy game about building a civilization and going into battle.” Players compete to control resources and develop technologies, and they wage battles in order to build an empire. Musk’s brother Kimbal told Isaacson that his famous sibling said Polytopia “would teach me to be a CEO like he was.” The game was also fodder for a series of life and business lessons for Elon, with the first one being, “Empathy is not an asset.”

        • Sephitard9001 [he/him]
          hexbear
          12
          7 months ago

          64 gigs of RAM and overclocked i9 only to install bluestacks to emulate Diablo Immortal and never playing anything else lets-fucking-go

    • Sephitard9001 [he/him]
      hexbear
      21
      7 months ago

      Why do I get the feeling this motherfucker has the best PC money can get but barely knows how it works and can't troubleshoot so he plays Ark and Cities Skylines at max settings but still gets like 28-35 FPS and just thinks it's normal.

      Other option is he has the most expensive PC because it's brand name pre-built but has older parts and he doesn't even use them because he only plays games that use 1/4th it's processing power

  • blakeus12 [he/him]
    hexbear
    35
    7 months ago

    i am never playing video games again having learned this

    • moonlake [he/him]
      hexbear
      12
      7 months ago

      His mind is a storm of the freshest 9GAG memes from 2011

    • @Katrisia@lemm.ee
      hexbear
      4
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      In an old interview, Mr. Narcissus said he may have bipolar disorder; he said he experiences "great highs, terrible lows, and unrelenting stress".

      He has doubts because his highs and lows follow events in his life, whereas episodes from bipolar disorder often appear without triggers. Also, I'd add, the racing thoughts from bipolar disorder are extreme, and the symptom comes and goes. Perhaps he's confusing a busy mind (from ADHD, anxiety, OCD...) with a manic mind. The highs from BD are also too high and consist of more than euphoria.

      We'd know if he went for an evaluation/possible diagnosis, but I cannot even imagine him doing it.

  • UlyssesT [he/him]
    hexbear
    33
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    “Empathy is not an asset.”

    Rich monster discovers the profound class awareness that being a monster is short-term beneficial to rich monsters galaxy-brain

    Also explains that preoccupation with Le Simulation Theory: fascism is justified if no one is real but the fascist in le epic bibeo bame scared-fash

    • GarfieldYaoi [he/him]
      hexbear
      20
      7 months ago

      This...actually answered one of my questions on why a lot of CHUDs are fascinated with the simulation theory, it's why they can dismiss themselves as fun saturday morning cartoon villains and not as actual threats. At worst, they're just doing an evil playthrough of Skyrim, but it's ultimately okay because they're the super special demigod so doing whatever they want "for teh lulz" is justified as their reward for being born a demigod.

      CHUDs like to see themselves as chaotic neutral but they can't handle the fact they're lawful evil.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
        hexbear
        14
        7 months ago

        This...actually answered one of my questions on why a lot of CHUDs are fascinated with the simulation theory, it's why they can dismiss themselves as fun saturday morning cartoon villains and not as actual threats. At worst, they're just doing an evil playthrough of Skyrim, but it's ultimately okay because they're the super special demigod so doing whatever they want "for teh lulz" is justified as their reward for being born a demigod.

        CHUDs like to see themselves as chaotic neutral but they can't handle the fact they're lawful evil.

        Agreed, though in my experience, the very worst of them insist that they are actually "chaotic good."