Streamer, YouTuber and 100 Thieves co-owner Valkyrae visits WIRED to answers her most searched questions from Google. What is her gaming setup like? Where does Valkyrae stream? When did she first blow up? Where does Valkyrae get her swords? What's Valkyrae's real name? What rank is she in Valorant? Valkyrae answers all these questions and plenty more on the WIRED Autocomplete Interview.
Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: AJ Young
Editor: Cory Stevens
Talent: Valkyrae
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Talent Booker: Mica Medoff
Camera Operator: Lucas Vilicich
Sound Mixer: Paul Cornett
Production Assistant: Lauren Boucher
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: JC Scruggs
Assistant Editor: Billy Ward
Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: AJ Young
Editor: Cory Stevens
Talent: Valkyrae
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Talent Booker: Mica Medoff
Camera Operator: Lucas Vilicich
Sound Mixer: Paul Cornett
Production Assistant: Lauren Boucher
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: JC Scruggs
Assistant Editor: Billy Ward
Category
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TechTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Valkyrae and this is the Wired Autocomplete interview.
00:06I do have all my swords up on a wall.
00:08It looks awesome.
00:09You know, if anyone breaks in, I could just grab one and just do a quick little shank.
00:18Where does Valkyrae stream?
00:20So nine years ago, when I first started streaming, I streamed on Twitch.
00:24Four years later, I actually got signed to stream on YouTube.
00:27This is actually my third year resigning on YouTube.
00:29So I've been streaming on YouTube for the past five years.
00:31And it has been quite the journey, let me tell you.
00:34When did Valkyrae blow up?
00:37I'm still good.
00:38Did not blow up.
00:39I was streaming on Twitch for about three years when I started playing this game called Fortnite.
00:46And that was when I had my first rise, like, I guess, blow up in viewership.
00:50That was like the first part.
00:52And that's when I got found by my agency.
00:54That's when I started, like, I moved to LA.
00:56That's when 100 Thieves picked me up, the esports company that I co-own now.
01:01Gosh.
01:02And then the pandemic happened.
01:03And then there's this game called Among Us, where you play with like 10 other people.
01:07It's like a mafia type game where you try to find the imposters.
01:10That is the game where I absolutely blew up like crazy.
01:13And I think it's because everyone was at home, you know,
01:16like a lot of people that normally be like work or school
01:18or wouldn't really be on the internet knew, like, of this game.
01:22It was really cool that I was able to entertain a lot of people during that time.
01:24But I'm glad that life is getting a little bit back to normal.
01:28Where does Valkyrie get her swords?
01:31I'm not expecting these every time I pull them off.
01:33Like, oh, that's interesting.
01:35I do have swords.
01:35I actually have a sword collection.
01:37Admittedly, I don't actively go out and find swords as much as I used to.
01:43I've gotten a lot of my swords from online, from custom makers.
01:47I've made one myself at a blacksmith, which was really cool.
01:50A lot of them have been gifts because people know I like swords and stuff.
01:53So I've had been gifted over time.
01:56You know, now that we're talking about it,
01:57I kind of want to go look for swords again and just add more to the collection.
02:01Why did Valkyrie stop playing GTA?
02:04For context, I think people are asking about Grand Theft Auto 5 roleplay,
02:10which I started a few years ago.
02:13And then I, my character, I have a character on there named Raymon.
02:16And it's where you roleplay this whole life in GTA.
02:19It's all modded.
02:20It's all cool.
02:20It's a bunch of improv.
02:22I quit playing back then because a lot of viewers got insanely parasocial.
02:28And there's a lot of criticism when it comes like your character,
02:30how you interact with other people.
02:32There's a lot of chat hoppers.
02:33And I couldn't handle it back then.
02:35And a couple of years later to probably about this last December,
02:40I decided to give it a shot again.
02:41And now I have a different mentality with it.
02:43I pretty much tell my viewers, treat it as a reality TV show, okay?
02:46The streamer does not equal the character, all right?
02:49So when you play a villain or your character makes mistakes,
02:52just view it as entertainment, okay?
02:54Not that the streamer is a horrible person or whatever.
02:58All right.
03:00Yay.
03:01What's Valkyrie's real name?
03:03My real name is Rachel Hofstetter.
03:06And it's a kind of a funny story.
03:08My name's already doxxed anyways.
03:09But my real name, Rachel, actually has two L's.
03:12So it's R-A-C-H-E-L-L.
03:14And I didn't find out until I was in sixth grade.
03:16I saw my birth certificate that I was spelling my name wrong
03:19all these years.
03:20So I asked my mom, I was like, what's this extra L doing there?
03:22She was like, oh, the nurse misheard me.
03:25That's crazy.
03:26What car does Valkyrie have?
03:32It's like a scratch and sniff.
03:33I have a Lamborghini Urus.
03:39I spoiled myself.
03:40I love it so much though.
03:42Very fancy, but love it.
03:44What rank is Valkyrie in Valorant?
03:49I peaked at plat, but I am hard stuck gold right now.
03:54I'm working on it.
03:55It's about right in the middle.
03:57There's a bunch of ranks.
03:58I'm so perfectly average at this game.
04:01But I think that's why people like to watch me
04:03is because there's really good moments.
04:04And then there's really good fails.
04:06What is Valkyrie's settings in Fortnite?
04:10Since I do prioritize content over being the best,
04:17most, I know that a lot of pro players in Fortnite
04:19have like really low settings so they can see everything.
04:22It doesn't lag at all.
04:23But my settings in Fortnite are maxed out
04:25because I want it to be beautiful.
04:27I just prioritize the viewing experience
04:29better than the gameplay.
04:31What is Valkyrie, my gaming setup?
04:35I have two monitors.
04:36I have a custom built PC.
04:39I still have tech issues all the time,
04:41but luckily I have people around me that can help with that.
04:44I mean, I've got like the headset microphone.
04:46I've got like my gaming chair, a gaming space,
04:50camera, lighting, really good lighting.
04:53Really want to get like good quality for a streaming setup.
04:57Thank you so much.
04:58Can Valkyrie, oh my gosh, what can I do?
05:01I don't know.
05:03Dance.
05:03I feel like a lot of people actually don't know this about me,
05:06but I took dancing lessons for nine years as a kid.
05:09I quit to play tennis
05:10that I ended up being a varsity captain for,
05:13for two years in my high school,
05:14and which I ultimately quit to do streaming, so.
05:17I cannot dance now.
05:19During the pandemic, I tried doing like the TikTok dances.
05:22I deleted all of them because I was super cringed.
05:24I mean, I could dance, just not very well.
05:27Is Valkyrie, merch sold out?
05:30Yeah.
05:32I am working on a new drop right now.
05:34So there will be more merch in the future.
05:36But normally when I have like a merch drop,
05:38it's a one-off kind of thing.
05:40I don't have like a permanent store.
05:42I would say the only permanent merch store I have right now
05:46is the 100 Thieves merch store.
05:47But other than that, soon.
05:49Does Valkyrie have a tattoo?
05:52I do.
05:53I have two tattoos.
05:54I regret them both.
05:55I mean, I don't regret them.
05:56I don't mind them.
05:57Like I don't care enough to get them covered,
05:59but I definitely, you know, would prefer if it's not there.
06:03But I don't care that, you know, it's like there, it's whatever.
06:06Anyways, I have this one on my wrist.
06:08It's a Delta triangle that I wish was a bit smaller.
06:11Got it a long time ago after I got cheated on in a relationship.
06:14Because triangle is the strongest geometrical shape.
06:17And also Delta stands for change.
06:18So I wanted to like remind myself, like, you know,
06:21I'd see it and be like, don't go back to your ex.
06:24Spoiler alert, I did go back to my ex, which was just insane.
06:27But I grew a lot from it.
06:28I learned a lot from my past relationships.
06:30And then I also have another tattoo on my side right here
06:33that says and beyond my childhood.
06:36Best friend has two infinity.
06:37We're both huge Disney fans when we were growing up.
06:40And for our senior trip, we went to Disneyland.
06:42Just her and I.
06:43I haven't seen her in like 10 years,
06:44but I'm sure if we ever saw each other again,
06:46it would just be like a lot of catching up and stuff.
06:48It's distance, you know.
06:49I don't really regret that.
06:50It's cute, you know, it's cute.
06:51This one's like, well, but okay, anyways.
06:54Valkyrie, what?
06:56Among Us!
06:58Among Us was a huge point in my streaming career.
07:03Absolutely insane.
07:04It was eight months playing that game
07:06every single day through the pandemic
07:08with a bunch of other streamer friends.
07:10And it was mental warfare.
07:12Cause you know, like that game requires you
07:15to lie and deceive to your friends and stuff.
07:17And when you're playing it every single day
07:18for like eight hours a day for eight months,
07:21it got a little mentally taxing.
07:22I did cry after a few streams.
07:25There was one stream where I peaked at 150,000 viewers
07:28playing this game, this silly game.
07:30So felt like a fever dream.
07:31Two years of my life gone.
07:33But I'm happy we had Among Us to play during that time.
07:38Valkyrie, carrots!
07:42This is so insane.
07:44Okay, why?
07:45That's so crazy that people are Googling this.
07:47Okay, so Valkyrie, carrots is because
07:50there is a clip of me a long time ago
07:53when I was a much newer and smaller streamer.
07:56I don't know.
07:58It's just a clip of me getting some carrots.
08:02And I came back to the stream and I go,
08:04Valkyrie here with some carrots.
08:05What up with them vegetables?
08:06And I don't know why my community loves it so much.
08:10Okay, yeah, carrots.
08:11I love carrots, glazed carrots actually.
08:14Really good.
08:15Oh, this one doesn't have really any spoilers.
08:19It's just Valkyrie.
08:21Valkyrie, what?
08:23The meaning of Valkyrie.
08:25That's a good Google.
08:26Okay, when I first started making like this gaming account
08:29a long time ago on Instagram,
08:31I had a username called Legend of Ray.
08:35Super cringe to think about because of Legend of Zelda.
08:38I realized I was like,
08:38I don't want people to call me Legend of Ray.
08:41It's because I wanted my nickname to be Ray,
08:43but my real name is Rachel.
08:44No one ever called me Ray growing up,
08:47but that's the nickname I wanted.
08:48So I was like, I can make this so people call me Ray.
08:52So I was like, I'll make a username that has Ray in it.
08:54So I started Googling a bunch of words that have like Ray in it,
08:56and I saw the word Valkyrie,
08:58which is like the Nord mythology angels in war and stuff.
09:02I was like, oh, that's really cool.
09:03Yeah, really cool.
09:04Badass women.
09:04I don't know if I can say badass on this,
09:05but you know, I was like, okay, instead of Valkyrie,
09:08I'll just add Ray to it, Valkyrie.
09:09And the rest is history.
09:11I'm really glad I changed my username back then.
09:14Valkyrie, Elden Ring.
09:16Before Fortnite, I played the Dark Souls series,
09:20which I really loved.
09:21And then I tried Elden Ring when it came out,
09:24because it's kind of the same type of gameplay.
09:27And I beat the first boss and then I quit.
09:30That was two years ago.
09:31I do have a death counter.
09:33And so far, I've got like four bosses down and only 70 deaths.
09:37So I'm doing a pretty good job.
09:39Apparently I have to beat two bosses to play the DLC.
09:42So I really have to catch up.
09:43So right when I get home from this,
09:44I'm probably gonna go play Elden Ring.
09:46Valkyrie, Fortnite.
09:48I feel bad because I feel like I have a community
09:50that just like loved watching my Fortnite gameplay.
09:53It was also the first YouTube content I uploaded.
09:57Also, I had like clips of me doing sniper trick shots
10:00on Instagram in Fortnite.
10:02So I think I built a lot of my community from Fortnite.
10:05Fortnite isn't what it was back then.
10:08Like it's a bit different now.
10:09So I haven't played it in a really long time,
10:12but I'm open to trying it when new seasons come out.
10:15Valkyrie, Le Seraphim.
10:17Wow.
10:18Yeah, I had a pretty crazy opportunity
10:22to meet up with Le Seraphim.
10:24And for those who don't know,
10:25it's a very popular female K-pop group.
10:29They're all so lovely,
10:31but they wanted to meet up and like film TikToks together.
10:33And I don't really do TikToks,
10:34but I was like, I'll do it for you.
10:37And so we did like a whole dance together
10:39and I vlogged it.
10:40And so the vlog's on my channel if you wanna go see it.
10:43But yeah, it was very, very cool.
10:45Last one on this board, Valkyrie.
10:47Lipstick.
10:48Oh my gosh.
10:50Do you have my bag?
10:51Thank you so much.
10:52The brand is ILIA, I-L-I-A,
10:55and the shade is Wild Rose.
10:57Look, that's what's left of it.
11:00That's what's left of it.
11:02You know what else is here?
11:05All right.
11:07My favorite.
11:08Please don't buy it all.
11:12All right.
11:13When did Valkyrie...
11:15When did I what?
11:17Join 100T.
11:19Wow.
11:19I think it's been six years now.
11:23I've been streaming for nine years.
11:24I would say probably maybe five years ago.
11:27And then a couple of years later, I became a co-owner.
11:30And yeah, I'm still with them.
11:31Time is flying.
11:32Oh my gosh.
11:33Valkyrie, personality.
11:36Ooh, what does that mean?
11:38If we're talking about the personality test,
11:41I can't remember what the tests are called,
11:43but I used to be an ENFP, but then I retook it,
11:47and now I'm an INFP.
11:50I don't know what it means.
11:51I just remember that those are the letters.
11:54I think ENFP is more extroverted,
11:56but I have to take a few days to recover and stuff.
11:59I can definitely socialize if I need to.
12:02I can do this.
12:02This is fun.
12:03I like this.
12:04But I'm probably gonna take three days to recover.
12:06Valkyrie, voice acting.
12:09I have had a few voice acting opportunities.
12:12I actually am doing some auditions for some more now
12:16for not just some shows,
12:18but for maybe some video games as well.
12:23Spoilers.
12:24We'll see.
12:25We'll see.
12:26All right.
12:27Valkyrie, streamer awards 2024.
12:31Oh gosh.
12:32I won a couple awards in my streaming career.
12:36I've won gamer of the year.
12:38I've won streamer of the year.
12:40It's always mind-boggling when I win these kind of things,
12:44because in my head, I view a lot of my peers
12:46as so much cooler and more entertaining.
12:50It's very eye-opening to see like,
12:51oh wow, I'm being honored in this way.
12:53This is freaking cool.
12:55People enjoy my content.
12:57It feels really good,
12:58especially now that it's coming up to 10 years in January.
13:01So it's been a long ride,
13:02and now I'm feeling like an elder in the space.
13:06I'm just, you know,
13:08how long am I gonna be playing games for?
13:10Valkyrie, my schedule.
13:13Yeah, that's a good question.
13:14As I mentioned earlier,
13:15I am signed to stream on YouTube.
13:17So I do stream regularly
13:19because I have an hour requirement,
13:22but I'm always over those hours anyways
13:24because I enjoy what I do.
13:25I love playing games.
13:27I love entertaining people.
13:28I love streaming.
13:29My schedule is always changing,
13:31but just know I will always be streaming
13:35whenever I play a game.
13:36I mean, I've been playing games my entire life.
13:38I foresee myself being an 80-year-old grandma,
13:41you know, checking out the Grand Theft Auto 15
13:44and, you know, streaming it for fun.
13:46So I'll be there.
13:48Well, that's all of the boards.
13:50Thank you so much for watching.
13:51Until next time, bye.