Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
- 118
- 1
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
A little while ago someone posted asking if it was credible that Musk had achieved a world record in Diablo 4.
In a follow up to that, recently Musk has been streaming another ARPG, Path of Exile 2. For those not in the know PoE is what the true rarified ARPG gamers play. It's the Salty Spitoon. Diablo is Weenie Hut Jrs. Much like in D4, Elon's PoE2 character is absolutely decked out, the work of hundreds of hours. But not his. He also zero grasp of the game. He doesn't understand itemisation, he fumbles with interfaces, doesn't know how to play the build properly. I would bet against him having even having completed the campaign once. I have little doubt that his total misunderstanding of the significance of an item's character level requirement will be a meme in the community for years to come.
It's bizarre if true. He can't be clueless enough to not understand that this is extremely transparent. It's tempting to declare in the best traditions of armchair psychoanalysis that this is just how top management warps your brain, to truly believe that you get credit for playing your games the same way you run your companies - paying other people to do all the grunt work.
This is bog standard rich dude stuff in many traditional rich guy meatspace sports. Amateur to semipro SCCA motorsports is full of rich guys who are mediocre drivers and spend a ton of money to try to get the car to carry them to wins. Hell, the entire sport of Polo allows the Patron to take one roster spot and the handicap system is designed to make it competitively practical to field him, resulting in last year's US Open where a team owner in his late 50s suffered an accident that left him in a coma. Rich guys hire hunting and fishing guides who line things up for them to take trophies, they get the best gear to help them compete, anything for an edge to claim glory.
We only find this shocking because we're not used to people using videogames as a status flex.
I mean, we don't expect the hunter to build his own rifle or a racer to build his own car. But we do expect them to know what their gear is doing.
In racing there are amateur series designed around home-mechanics, with price limits and rules against outside work. 24 Hours of Lemons, junk car races. The idea is you limit the purchase price of the car and forbid anyone outside the team's drivers from working on it. The archetype being four buddies taking turns driving in the endurance race, after fixing up a $500 Ford Taurus on weekends in their garage.
And notoriously you run into teams of four that are three professional mechanics and one investment banker, with the mechanics being paid "friends" of their patron, the car too nice to ever realistically find at the price point they claim, and the patron isn't a great driver but with a better machine he gets the anchor spot on the team and pulls across the finish line in first place excited for his trophy.
Of course the reverse attitude can morph into universal envy and ego protection. Physical culture is a hobby of mine, hardly one in which I've achieved much, but even I've experienced the twin levels of bullshit here: people richer than me comment that they can't work out because they are just so busy with work, people poorer than me say it must be nice to be able to afford all that equipment etc. And both have some point to them, but I'm sure if I dug into my interlocutor's lifestyle I could dispute it.
Interesting thing about physical culture. Arnold said that there are no shortcuts. You can only get an impressive body by working for it. But arnold was full of it. You can buy steroids and speedrun to the finish line pretty much. I doubt that Jeff Bezos knows much about lifting yet he looks more jacked than you or me.
"'roids are not for the lazy" is how it's been put to me by... guys who do a lot of 'roids.
More options
Context Copy link
Speak for yourself.
But for that matter, I think the impact of steroids is often overstated. Bezos undoubtedly had to go into the gym to build that muscle. Was it easier than it would have been without steroids? Sure. But he did put in work to get a body like that. Probably more work than half the people bitching about his steroid use have put in.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link