A high-flying demo of Starlink’s in-flight gaming capabilities faced turbulence when PC gamers exploited the live stream to bombard SpaceX CEO Elon Musk with insults.

“YOU RUINED THE COUNTRY JUST LIKE YOU RUINED ALL YOUR MARRIAGES,” one gamer posted in the messages. 

On Saturday, Musk live-streamed himself playing Path of Exile 2 from a jet installed with a Starlink dish. Musk later deleted the live stream, but not before YouTubers recorded and uploaded the footage, which reveals the live stream was at times relentlessly trolled. 

The barrage of spam

(Credit: YouTube)

As 404 Media reports, the gamers exploited the messaging function in Path of Exile 2. “YOU HAVE NO REAL FRIENDS AND WILL DIE ALONE,” one user repeatedly wrote. Others took digs at Tesla’s falling stock price and issued personal attacks, citing his relationship history. 

At one point, Musk notes that players are “spamming” messages. “There’s a lot of retards in the chat,” he said. But for some reason, SpaceX’s CEO did not activate the “Do Not Disturb” command or the hide chat function. During the stream, one gamer even messaged Musk, telling him how to activate Do Not Disturb.

The live stream

(Credit: YouTube)

Instead, Musk continued to play as messages crowded the lower-left corner of the screen. At other times, he silenced select accounts. Meanwhile, some gamers wrote supportive messages to Musk, including “We love and appreciate you. These people are just jealous.” 

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It appears that gamers learned the names of his Path of Exile 2 characters after Musk switched to the menu screens, giving them a way to spam the chats. On the plus side, the live stream demonstrated that Starlink can be used to game on a plane, with only occasional bouts of lag.

But the live stream didn’t just face trolling. Others also commented and criticized Musk’s gaming skills. This comes after the SpaceX CEO admitted to paying others to level up his characters in Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2.

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About Michael Kan

Senior Reporter

Michael Kan

I’ve been working as a journalist for over 15 years—I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017.


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