How Valkyrae’s Imaginary Relationship With a Killer Clown Became a Streaming Hit

You may know Valkyrae (real name Rachell Marie Hofstetter) from any number of places. She’s one of the most-watched female streamers on YouTube, where she airs variety and gaming content. She’s also co-owner of the lifestyle brand and gaming organization, 100 Thieves. She even recently broke into music, collaborating with fellow streamer Fuslie and singer Ylona Garcia on the song “Echoes,” which she swears is a one-off.

But at her core, Valkyrae is a gamer. Before she was a livestreaming juggernaut listed Forbes’ 30 Under 30, she was a clerk at GameStop, where she worked the overnight release of the game Destiny and posted reaction videos on social media. Today, nearly a decade later, millions of viewers tune in to see her play.

Currently, her biggest draw for fans are her Grand Theft Auto Online streams, wherein she engages in GTA V roleplay, where players log onto individual servers to play a meta-game, improvising their own stories together outside of what’s already offered by Grand Theft Auto Online’s missions. Valkyrae plays on the game’s largest server, NoPixel, which has over 20,000 members. There, Valkyrae plays with friends, but as the community’s most famous server, it’s also populated by celebrities and major content creators live streaming their experiences.

With so many balls in the air, you’d think it’d be difficult for Valkyrae to find time to game for herself (spoiler: it is), but she’s determined not to let her workload poison her passion. Rolling Stone recently sat down with the YouTuber to discuss her approach to keeping video-game live streaming continually fresh, what she plays to unwind, and how she balances online time and real life to maintain her mental health.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

What games are you currently playing?
Right now, Valorant and GTA V [roleplay] is what I’m predominantly playing, but then there’s games that I only play offline like Hearthstone or Stardew Valley.

The thing that has been really addicting is that not only am I enjoying [GTA Online] – because it’s a bunch of roleplay, it’s improv and you never know what’s going to happen — but the audience loves it as well. I pretty much tell them to treat it like a reality TV show that is unscripted.

I used to play [GTA Online] a long time ago, but I quit because I noticed a trend of toxicity. Some players get attached to characters; you don’t want your character to become the villain but sometimes they are. It got to be too much for me, but now that I’m thinking of it as a reality TV show, I just separate myself from the character and just play, and people love it now.

How are you creating a story for your GTA Online reality show?
I try to have a plan of some big things that I want to do in my head, but every single time I play the plan changes. You can never just go off-script because you never know how any of the other characters are going to act. So, sometimes I’ll have a plan like, “Oh yeah, I’m just gonna have this single character that’s in a gang and stuff. But now as the story has progressed, my character is in a relationship with a clown. How did we get here?” I never thought I’d be roleplaying as a character that is dating a serial-killer clown persona, but now there’s this whole Romeo and Juliet era that’s happening between them because her gang doesn’t get along with these clowns.

It’s definitely like a soap opera.

I assume you’re excited for Grand Theft Auto VI.
I am so excited! This game has been in the works for years and years and years, and there’s already a massive GTA community. They have all been waiting for this.

I think a lot of people are anticipating this to be like the game of the year, obviously. It’s really exciting for GTA roleplay streamers and the server itself — NoPixel is going to improve so much when this new game comes out. It’s going to be great for the content overall, for everybody.

What do you like about Valorant?
It’s always one of those games that I can come back to, [it] just never ends and I have a bunch of streamer friends [that] all feel the same about it. It’s just fun to play together and improve and progress. Obviously, ranking up is addicting. But, because I’m such a variety streamer, my skill comes and goes.

What do you gravitate towards for an off-stream game?
Okay, so the game right now that I play only offline [is] a game called Hearthstone Battlegrounds. It’s just a card game, it’s strategic. I think the reason why I like this game the most off-stream is because it’s super chill. Since it’s a card game, it’s not like I’m building a story or whatever. So, this is the game I play when I want to multitask. Since it’s turn-based, I’m able to do my emails on my other monitor or get my 10,000 steps in on my treadmill while I’m playing. It’s a good way for me to pass time, even if I’m at the airport.

So, you’re clearly a big PC gamer. What other platforms are you using?
You know, it’s funny because as much as I play games, I don’t really play phone apps as much as people probably think I do. Hearthstone, I can play on my phone, but I prefer to play on PC. Most of the time, I will only play on the Switch or PlayStation or Xbox if there’s a new game that’s coming out that’s only available on those consoles. Otherwise, I’ll just play it on Steam which is on my PC.

Are you traveling with a gaming laptop?
I have been trying to do a better job of balancing real life, so when I’m traveling, I try not to game other than playing my card game every once in a while. I do have a laptop, but I try not to use it for gaming; it’s more so just like watching shows or something.

A work/life balance is important!
Yeah, I mean, my hobby became my career, so I never want to get burnt out. And there have been a few times where I have felt burnt out from it. So, the last thing you want to do is hate what you do for a living. I’ve been doing this, [in] this industry, I’ve been in it for 10 years now, and I’ve been playing games my whole life. So, balance is very important.

Give me your list of current game recommendations.
Okay! I’m just gonna start naming off a bunch of different games for different reasons. If you want a game to lose your life to, I would say World of Warcraft or Runescape. Those were two games where I just invested the most time ever, but I enjoyed it.

Valorant or Fortnite, or like [Counter-Strike: GO], are really good team shooter games where you work together, and you can progress. Very strategic.

For nostalgia, I would probably say something like Super Mario Sunshine or Kingdom Hearts. When I was a kid, growing up, I loved those games.

You recently participated in a multi-part Dungeons & Dragons stream. Is tabletop gaming a space you’re looking to break into?
I’ve done it for fun for a few different reasons. I participated in a real Dungeons & Dragons run with an actual Dungeon Master, and it went really well. Then, I participated again because of this game called Baldur’s Gate, which is a video game that’s pretty much Dungeons & Dragons. I played that with a few friends but unfortunately did not finish. It’s very, very long.

[The stream] that you saw was my friend and roommate — she’s also a streamer — she came up with her own scuffed D&D campaign where it was made purely for content. And it was silly, we just streamed it, and it was a lot of fun. She put in so much work. She hired a bunch of artists and animators to make it come to life on stream, so it’d be as entertaining as possible. It was only a three-session thing.

But I always see clips of Critical Role, they’re playing Dungeons & Dragons all the time. It looks like so much fun, but it’s tons of hours that I just don’t have the time for anymore.

Lastly, there’s waves of video game adaptations coming out now. What’s the dream role you’d like to play in one?
Oh my gosh, OK. Something that I really want to do is play a character in a horror film that’s based off of a video game. I think that would be the most perfect thing ever. A good example would be a game like Until Dawn. It’s a scary game that’s solo player [and] your decisions affect the outcome of whether certain characters live or not.

I’m really good at screaming, I’ve had lots of experience playing horror games.

That actually is being adapted into a film. Call them!
I mean, there are some things that I can’t exactly talk about but there are definitely more video game adaptations coming out that I may actually be a part of. A little bit.