Hi, I'm Valkyrae,
and this is the WIRED Autocomplete Interview.
[cheerful music]
I do have all my swords up on a wall.
It looks awesome.
If anyone breaks in, I could just grab one
and just do a quick little shank. [laughs]
[cheerful music]
Thank you.
Where does Valkyrae stream?
So, nine years ago when I first started streaming,
I streamed on Twitch.
Four years later,
I actually got signed to stream on YouTube.
This is actually my third year residing on YouTube.
So I've been streaming on YouTube for the past five years.
And it has been quite the journey, lemme tell you. [laughs]
When did Valkyrae blow up?
I'm still good, did not blow up.
I was streaming on Twitch for about three years
when I started playing this game called Fortnite.
And that was when I had my first rise,
I guess blow up in viewership.
That was the first part.
And that's when I got funded by my agency.
That's when I started, I moved to LA,
that's when 100 Thieves picked me up.
The eSports company that I co-own now.
Gosh, and then the pandemic happened,
and then there's this game called Among Us,
where you play with 10 other people.
It's like a mafia type game
where you try to find the imposters.
That is the game where I absolutely blew up like crazy.
And I think it's 'cause everyone was at home,
a lot of people that normally be work, or school,
or wouldn't really be on the internet knew of this game.
It was really cool that I was able to entertain
a lot of people during that time,
but I'm glad that life is getting
a little bit back to normal. [laughs]
Where does Valkyrae get her swords?
I'm not expecting these.
Every time I pull 'em off, I'm like ,
Whoa, that's interesting.
I do have swords.
I actually have a sword collection.
Admittedly, I don't actively go out and find swords
as much as I used to.
I've gotten a lot of my swords from online,
from custom makers.
I've made one myself at a blacksmith, which was really cool.
A lot of them have been gifts
because people know I like swords and stuff,
so I've been gifted over time.
Now that we're talking about it,
I kind of wanna go look for swords again,
and just add more to the collection. [laughs]
Why did Valkyrae stop playing GTA?
For context, I think people are asking
about Grand Theft Auto V role play.
Which I started a few years ago, and then I, my character,
I have a character on there named Ray Mond,
and it's where you role play this whole life in GTA.
It's all modded, it's all cool, it's a bunch of improv.
I quit playing back then because a lot of viewers got
insanely para-social,
and there's a lot of criticism when it comes your character,
how you interact with other people,
there's a lot of chat hoppers.
And I couldn't handle it back then.
And a couple years later,
to probably about this last December,
I decided to give it a shot again.
And now, I have a different mentality with it.
I pretty much tell my viewers treat
it as a reality TV show, okay.
The streamer does not equal the character, all right?
So when you play a villain or your character makes mistakes,
just view it as entertainment, okay.
Not that the streamer's a horrible person or whatever.
All right, woo.
Yay.
What's Valkyrae's real name?
My real name is Rachell Hofstetter.
And it's a kind of a funny story.
My name's already doxxed anyways,
but my real name Rachell actually has two Ls.
So it's R-A-C-H-E-L-L,
and I didn't find out until I was in sixth grade.
I saw my birth certificate.
I was spelling my name wrong all these years.
So I asked my mom, I was like,
What's this extra L doing there?
She was like, Oh, the nurse misheard me. [laughs]
That's crazy. [laughs]
What car does Valkyrae have?
It's like a scratch and sniff.
I have a Lamborghini Urus. [laughs]
I spoiled myself.
I love it so much though.
Very fancy, but love it.
What rank is Valkyrae in Valorant?
I peaked at plat, but I'm hard stuck gold right now.
I'm working on it.
It's about right in the middle.
There's a bunch of ranks.
I'm so perfectly average at this game,
but I think that's why people like to watch me,
is 'cause there's really good moments
and then there's really good fails.
What is Valkyrae settings in Fortnite?
Since I do prioritize content over being the best,
I know that a lot of pro players in Fortnite have
really low settings so they can see everything,
it doesn't lag at all.
But my settings in Fortnite are maxed out
'cause I want it to be beautiful.
I just prioritize the viewing experience better
than the gameplay. [laughs]
What is Valkyrae?
My gaming setup.
I have two monitors, I have a custom built PC.
I still have tech issues all the time,
but luckily I have people around me that can help with that.
I mean, I've got the headset microphone,
I've got my gaming chair, a gaming space,
camera, lighting, really good lighting.
Really wanna get good quality for a streaming setup.
Woo.
Thank you so much.
Can Valkyrar?
Oh my gosh, what can I do?
I don't know. [laughs]
Dance.
I feel like a lot of people actually don't know
this about me,
but I took dancing lessons for nine years as a kid.
I quit to play tennis,
that I ended up being a varsity captain for
for two years in my high school.
And which I ultimately quit to do streaming, so.
I cannot dance now.
During the pandemic, I tried doing the TikTok dances,
I deleted all of them 'cause I was super cringed.
I mean, I could dance, just not very well. [laughs]
Is Valkyrae merch sold out?
Yeah. [laughs]
I am working on a new drop right now,
so there will be more merch in the future.
But normally when I have a merch drop,
it's a one off kind of thing.
I don't have a permanent store.
I would say the only permanent merch store
I have right now is the 100 Thieves merch store.
But other than that, soon.
Does Valkyrae have a tattoo?
I do.
I have two tattoos, I regret them both.
I mean, I don't regret them.
I don't mind them, I don't care enough to get them covered,
but I definitely would prefer if it's not there.
But I don't care that.
It's there, it's whatever.
Anyways, anyways, I have this one on my wrist.
It's a delta triangle that I wish was a bit smaller.
Got it a long time ago
after I got cheated on in a relationship.
'Cause a triangle is the strongest geometrical shape,
and also delta stands for change
so I wanted to remind myself .
I'd see it and be like, Don't go back to your ex.
Spoiler alert, I did go back to my ex,
which was just insane.
But I grew a lot from it,
I learned a lot from my past relationships.
And then I also have another tattoo on my side
right here that says, And beyond.
My childhood best friend has, To infinity.
We're both huge Disney fans when we were growing up,
and for our senior trip we went to Disneyland.
Just her and I.
I haven't seen her in 10 years,
but I'm sure if we ever saw each other again,
it would just be a lot of catching up and stuff.
It's distance.
I don't really regret that.
It's cute, it's cute.
This one's, whoa, but anyways. [laughs]
Valkyrae, what, Among Us.
Among Us was a huge point in my streaming career.
Absolutely insane.
It was eight months playing that game every single day
through the pandemic with a bunch of other streamer friends.
And it was mental warfare
'cause that game requires you to lie and deceive
to your friends and stuff.
And when you're playing it every single day
for eight hours a day for eight months,
it got a little mentally taxing.
I did cry after a few streams.
There was one stream
where I peaked at 150,000 viewers playing this game,
this silly game.
So felt like a fever dream, two years of my life gone.
But I'm happy we had Among Us to play during that time.
Valkyrae, carrots. [laughs]
This is so insane.
Okay, why?
That's so crazy that people are googling this.
Okay, so Valkyrae carrots is because there is a clip
of me a long time ago when I was a much newer
and smaller streamer.
I don't know, it's just a clip of me getting some carrots.
And I came back to the stream and I go,
Valkyrae here with some carrots.
What up with them vegetables?
And I don't know why my community loves it so much.
Okay, yeah, carrots.
I love carrots, glazed carrots actually.
Mh-hm, really good.
Woo.
Ooh, this one doesn't have really any spoilers.
It's just Valkyrae.
Valkyrae what?
The meaning of Valkyrae?
That's a good Google.
Okay, when I first started making this gaming account
a long time ago on Instagram,
I had a username called Legend of Rae.
Super cringe to think about, because of Legend of Zelda.
I realized, I was like,
I don't want people to call me Legend of Rae.
It's 'cause I wanted my nickname to be Rae,
but my real name is Rachell.
No one ever called me Rae growing up,
but that's the nickname I wanted.
So I was like, I can make this so people call me Rae.
So I was like, I'll make a username that has Rae in it.
So I started Googling a bunch of words that have Rae,
and I saw the word Valkyrie,
which is the Nord mythology, angels and war and stuff.
I was like, Oh that's really cool.
Yeah, really cool badass women.
I don't know if I can say badass on this,
but I was like, Okay, instead of Valkyrie
I'll just add Rae to it, Valkyrae.
And the rest is history.
I'm really glad I changed my username back then. [laughs]
Valkyrae Elden Ring.
Before Fortnite, I played the Dark Soul series,
which I really loved.
And then I tried Elden when it came out,
'cause it's kind of the same type of gameplay.
And I beat the first boss and then I quit.
That was two years ago.
I do have a death counter,
and so far I've got four bosses down and only 70 deaths.
So I'm doing a pretty good job.
Apparently I have to beat two bosses to play the DLC,
so I really have to catch up.
So right when I get home from this,
I'm probably gonna go play Elden Ring.
Valkyrae, Fortnite.
I feel bad 'cause I feel like I have a community
that just loved watching my Fortnite gameplay.
It was also the first YouTube content I uploaded.
Also, I had clips of me doing sniper trick shots
on Instagram in Fortnite.
So I think a lot of,
I built a lot of my community from Fortnite.
Fortnite isn't what it was back then.
It's a bit different now,
so I haven't played it in a really long time.
But I'm open to trying it when new seasons come out.
Valkyrae, Le Sserafim.
Wow, yeah, I had a pretty crazy opportunity to meet up
with Le Sserafim.
And for those of you that don't know,
it's a very popular female K-pop group.
They're all so lovely.
But they wanted to meet up and film tiktoks together,
and I don't really do tiktoks,
I was like, I'll do it for you.
And so we did a whole dance together.
And yeah, I vlogged it.
And so the vlog is on my channel if you wanna go see it.
But yeah, it was very, very cool. [laughs]
Last one on this board of Valkyrae.
Lipstick.
Oh my gosh, do you have my bag?
Thank you so much. [laughs]
The brand is Ilia.
I-L-I-A, and the shade is Wild Rose.
Look, that's what's left of it.
That's what's left of it. [laughs]
Well, since is here.
All right. [laughs]
My favorite, please don't buy it all. [laughs]
Woo.
All right, when did Valkyrae, when did I what, join a 100T?
Wow, I think it's been six years now.
I've been streaming for nine years.
I would say probably maybe five years ago.
And then a couple years later I became a co-owner.
And yeah, I'm still with them.
Time is flying, oh my gosh.
Valkyrae, personality.
Ooh, what does that mean?
If we're talking about the personality test,
I can't remember what the tests are called,
but I used to be an ENFP.
But then I retook it, and now I'm an INFP.
I don't know what it means.
I just remember that those are the letters. [laughs]
I think ENFP is more extroverted,
but I have to take a few days to recover and stuff.
I can definitely socialize if I need to.
I can do this, this is fun, I like this.
But I'm probably gonna take three days to recover. [laughs]
Valykrae voice acting.
I have had a few voice acting opportunities.
I actually am doing some auditions
for some more now for not just some shows
but for maybe some video games as well.
Ooh, spoilers. [laughs]
We'll see, we'll see.
Alright, Valykrae, Streamer Awards 2024.
Oh gosh, I won a couple awards in my streaming career.
I've won Gamer of the Year, I've won Streamer of the Year.
It's always mind boggling when I win these kind of things,
because in my head I view a lot of my peers
as so much cooler and more entertaining.
It's very eye-opening to see,
Oh wow, I'm being honored in this way.
This is freaking cool, people enjoy my content.
It feels really good,
especially now that it's coming up to 10 years in January.
So it's been a long ride,
and now I'm feeling like an elder in the space. [laughs]
I'm just, how long have I been playing games for? [laughs]
Valkyrae, my schedule?
Yeah, that's a good question.
As I mentioned earlier, I am signed to stream on YouTube,
so I do stream regularly 'cause I have an hour requirement.
But I'm always over those hours anyways
because I enjoy what I do.
I love playing games, I love entertaining people,
I love streaming.
My schedule is always changing,
but just know I will always be streaming
whenever I play a game.
I mean, I've been playing games my entire life,
I foresee myself being an 80-year-old grandma checking out
the Grand Theft Auto 15 and streaming it for fun.
So I'll be there.
Oh, well that's all of the boards.
Thank you so much for watching.
Until next time, bye.
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