YouTube streamer Rachel “Valkyrae” Hofstetter is fed up with some of her viewers who interfere too much in her roleplay in GTA 5. They are cowards, says the 32-year-old. She knows what she is doing with her character.
This is the situation:
- Valkyrae indulges in roleplaying on the “NoPixel” server in GTA5.
- Here streamers take on the role of fictional characters, such as criminals or police officers. Valkyrae plays “Ray Mond”, a 28-year-old Filipina who has come to Lost Santos to find her missing twin brother.
- But some of Valkyrae’s viewers fear that the streamer might jeopardize Ray Mond’s criminal career with her actions.
GTA 5 provides an excellent template for roleplay:
This is the conflict: Some viewers complain that Valkyrae is making wrong decisions in GTA 5 and revealing information to people who shouldn’t have it.
Because that could harm her character.
Valkyrae says: Betrayal adds the necessary spice to GTA 5
What Valkyrae says: She reacts annoyed to these hints from viewers. She says people are worried that she is giving information to the wrong people.
But she likes to add “spice” to things. The more information people have, the more they can react. People should let her character make mistakes; it makes the game more exciting for everyone. In GTA 5, after all, everyone finds everything out.
No one she trusts with information would ever betray Ray Mond, and even if someone did, that would be great. Because it adds more spice to all the action:
“I don’t understand why GTA viewers are so cowardly and make demands on characters to behave perfectly. It would be so boring to watch someone who does nothing but be perfect.”
She doesn’t understand those who want that. The people who want that should just watch a grinder instead.
In roleplaying, it’s not about playing optimally
What it’s about: This is an interesting conflict. In roleplaying, it is not about acting in your own best interest, but behaving in a way that creates an exciting overall story.
For “backseat gamers” who like to instruct a streamer to get the most out of it, this apparently doesn’t work.
There are indeed other forms of gaming than just chasing high scores and playing optimally.
What extent roleplaying in GTA 5 can take, was experienced by Twitch streamer Sodapoppin, who got so immersed in a virtual job in GTA 5 that it became too much work in real life: Twitch streamer quits GTA 5 RP because the played job becomes real: “It’s brutal”
