diff --git a/libopensesame/logger.py b/libopensesame/logger.py
index 788ff1e64..36d35e449 100644
--- a/libopensesame/logger.py
+++ b/libopensesame/logger.py
@@ -87,8 +87,8 @@ def from_string(self, string):
                     for var in arglist:
                         if not self.experiment.syntax.valid_var_name(
                                 safe_decode(var)):
-                            raise InvalidOpenSesameScript(
-                                '{var} is not a valid variable name')
+                            oslogger.error(
+                                f'{var} is not a valid variable name')
                     self.logvars += arglist
                 else:
                     self.exclude_patterns += arglist