Rachell ‘Valkyrae’ Hofstetter has been struggling to play GTA RP on-stream, the star YouTuber revealed, because she feels “so uncomfortable” interacting with other players on the game’s popular No Pixel server.
The YouTuber admits she’s been “making herself” play GTA RP lately.
Unlike some star streamers — xQc chief among them — Valkyrae’s problems with the roleplaying game have nothing to do with the NoPixel server though. Instead, the 29-year-old admitted she has been grappling with her “IRL” society anxieties; they’ve loomed large in the video game world recently.
Her struggles haven’t forced her to quit roleplaying yet, Hofstetter says, but they have seen her toss-up leaving GTA RP behind more than a few times.
The biggest issue she has with GTA roleplaying, Valkyrae explains, is her social anxiety. It’s something she struggles with often “in real life”. More and more, she is finding it involuntarily transfer into Rockstar’s famous game too.
“I legit don’t know everyone [in GTA RP] that well,” she said. “I know it’s just roleplaying, I get that, but it still really affects me in real life too.
“For me, roleplaying, it feels like if I was hanging out with someone new one-on-one. Or I was meeting a totally new person and hanging out, I get those nerves.”
Valkyrae continued: “I’m not as socially capable as a lot of the other streamers. I can’t describe it. I’ve been trying to make more friends, in streaming and GTA RP, but it’s not that easy for me.
“I don’t like streaming when I’m nervous and all that stuff just makes me so nervous. I don’t want it impacting my streams.”
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There’s even been times she’s considered hanging up the controller.
“I’ve been trying to [work through it],” she added, “but you guys know it just makes me so uncomfortable, and that makes me less excited to play.”
The related segment begins at 45:39 in the video below.
Valkyrae has barely played GTA RP on YouTube over the past month. That’s more to do with the RFLCT controversy sparked by her “bluelight cream” release though.
The 29-year-old unveiled a skincare range on October 19, and was immediately lashed with vitriol from all corners of the internet. The response was so negative that Valkyrae took a break from streaming, and cut ties with the Ulta-backed products via several contract clauses.
The YouTuber has since started seeing a therapist, revealing the RFLCT saga left her in “a terrible place,” but made her return to regular streaming early last week.