Gaming
Esports
How KayPea became a streaming legend in a league of her own
The Canadian Twitch star reveals what first sparked her love of LoL, how basketball made a better gamer and how she built a community that continues to flourish.
The secret of being a succesful Twitch streamer (at least according to those lucky enough to make a comfortable living out of it) is to be yourself. According to those in the know, falling into the trap of trying to be someone else will always catch up with you in the end.
Not that this was ever an issue for Vancouver-born Kelsie Pelling, otherwise known as 'KayPea' to her combined audience of 1.74 million fans on Twitch and YouTube. She 'found herself' sooner than most.
KayPea has risen to the top with an "underdog mentality"
© Jon Simo/Red Bull Content Pool
Aged eight, the Canadian moved to Singapore with her family when their dad relocated there for work. Then, at the age of 15, when her parents divorced, she moved to North Carolina, where she spent one year before moving back to Vancouver. It was a time in her life that she credits with helping her to embrace her true self, meaning that when the time came to jump into streaming she was already comfortable in her own skin.
"I got so frustrated when I moved between countries," says the 32-year-old. "I wanted be someone else every time I moved but it's crazy how quickly you fall back into who you are, because at the end of the day, well, it's you.
"When streaming, you need to make it as easy as possible for yourself because there’s already so many things that you have to deal with, so putting on a character or trying to embellish things to get attention, as many people do, can be a hindrance."
Naturally, it also helps that Pelling has a real talent for League of Legends, on which she can regularly be found bossing the mid-lane: "The first time I played LoL, I chose Garen and hated it. I almost didn’t play again until I found a champion that I liked. From that point I was addicted."
Blood, sweat, tears and more than a few expendable minions have gone into building an online community Pelling describes as a "positive space". And having just released a limited edition range of streetwear, she opens up on how her mini empire came to be, the origin story behind her love for LoL, how, of all things, basketball helped her become a better gamer, and some thoughts on the future of streaming.
What are your first gaming memories?
Probably playing Super Nintendo at my Great Aunt's House. I discovered PC gaming around the age of 10 thanks to my two older brothers who were into it. Our parents were quite strict with video games and often limited us to one hour of computer time per day, so you can imagine how it drove us to want to play more. I’ve always been competitive as a gamer, too, regularly playing like an underdog. People quite often underestimate me.
Kaypea, pictured with her brothers, has always been a sharp shooter
© Kelsie Pelling
Is it true that Call of Duty was your first favourite video game?
Yeah! In my teens I was always focused on sports, but when I moved back to Vancouver and finished playing college basketball I found myself with a massive competitive void. And Modern Warfare 2 was the game that filled it – I played it non-stop, I loved the fast-paced nature of it and the feeling of taking someone out. When League [of Legends] came along, it gave me a similar vibe. You can pick apart every single thing that happened in a team fight and see how well someone played to the point you can’t refute it. It's evidence that I outplayed you.
When did you discover LoL for the first time?
It was one Christmas after I'd moved back to Vancouver. My brothers and I were all living in different cities at the time, so it was the first time in years we were all three together again, so we headed downtown to a LAN café and found one open on Christmas Eve. That’s when my brothers showed me League of Legends. I remember sitting there for 10 to 15 minutes just trying to figure out my username. I decided to go with my initials but spell it out a bit, and that’s how KayPea was born!
There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes to maintain a Twitch audience
© Kelsie Pelling
And now that gamer tag is emblazoned on your merchandise...
Isn’t that insane? It was a quick spur of the moment thing. The best part about the name is that it’s me – all my sport coaches and friends used to call me KP, and it jives so well with everything. I’m so lucky that so many things have fallen into place.
What else drew you to League of Legends?
LoL really captured me because it’s a team-based game. I played basketball in college and there are a lot more similarities with LoL than I initially thought, from tactics to positions, such as your tank player, which is like a post player in basketball because they’re big and tanky and can take a lot. People will say ‘Oh it’s not athletic, you’re just sat behind a keyboard, it doesn’t take a lot of skill', but these types of games are all about reaction time, predicting, figuring out when you can hit certain shots, when you can’t, when to take a chance and when to not. There’s a lot of decision-making and agility. Everything I used in my college basketball career has helped me in League of Legends.
Kaypea and her brothers back in Canada all grown up
© Kelsie Pelling
You studied anthropology at university. What would you have done if the streaming didn’t take off?
I like to think I would have gone into advertising. By the time I finished university I’d grown a small Twitch audience averaging 50 to 70 viewers on my stream as a hobby, so I took a month off to do a few things for my community and see I could do anything with it. In fact, I tripled my numbers within that month and was also recognised by someone who was really big on YouTube at the time. They invited me over to their gaming house in The Netherlands, and so I went over and lived in Eindhoven for eight months learning YouTube until a messy situation ended it all. When I got back to Canada I was on my own again.
Was it tough going solo again?
I tried to put my head down and grind away as best as I could. I’d stream, then make a video, and work non-stop. The amount it propelled my YouTube channel was incredible. Mind you, streaming can burn you out quickly, especially if you are the one editing the videos and doing everything. There’s a ton of League content creators that stopped streaming entirely, switched to another game or taken incredibly extended breaks. You’re having to deal with not only workloads and Twitch chat but toxicity within League of Legends too.
Pelling has won plaudits as a mid-laner on League of Legends
© Kelsie Pelling
How have you dealt with the haters?
Back when I first started streaming it was pretty rare that you saw a lot of female streamers that were respected. There was such toxicity towards women in that space. I wanted to pave the way for females of the future who were maybe on the fence, to give them confidence if they have passion and drive. We’re on our way to having a more inclusive community for not only women but LGBT+ who get a lot of harassment as well. Slowly, slowly, it’s got better but there are still improvements needed.
Is there more pressure on female streamers in a sense?
There was once a big discussion on Twitter about whether girl streamers have it 'easy'. And I replied that female streamers do have an easier time getting people to click on them since we’re still the minority within gaming, but that what people fail to mention is that we’re met with comments such as 'Prove you actually like gaming' and 'Prove that you weren’t boosted by a guy to get to your rank’, which is sad. I can guarantee that if we aren’t entertaining or don't have a good personality then that viewer will click off quicker than they clicked on.
How did your recent limited edition clothing line come about?
When I started out the only merch available was though a website where you could take a photo and get it printed on a t-shirt. But I saw how much companies such as Meta Threads changed the merch game. They have a whole design team and lots of products. It was one of the first times I’d reached out to a company myself and said 'I'd love to work with you’. I expected them to say ‘Listen, we just worked with Steve Aoki, calm down’. But they took well to it and over five or six months going back and forth during the pandemic we designed some great things. It's been really fun.
Has there been a shift in attitudes towards streetwear in esports? Should we expect runway shows at Worlds in the future?
You never know! I definitely see it going in that direction to some extent. I saw 100 Thieves announce they’re doing a line with Gucci, and LoL already had a collaboration with Louis Vuitton [the Worlds 2019 Trophy Trunk Case]. It’s crazy to see some of the world's top fashion brands wanting to work alongside gaming brands. If you had told me that 20 years ago, I’d have said 'Good joke'. The way the orgs are branding themselves on social media now is really smart, they’ve got some really good people behind them taking advantage of certain situations for growth. There are a lot of really cool things that will happen in the future of gaming.
The future looks bright for KayPea
© Kelsie Pelling
Do you see Twitch ever allowing users to hover over a Twitch streamer and buy their outfit?
Wouldn’t that be crazy? That’s the future. Instagram was originally just be a photo sharing app and now you can literally tag a photo and find out exactly where to buy a shirt the person is wearing. We’re only a step or two away…
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
I want to get to more events. The year before the pandemic I was lucky enough to attend Red Bull AdrenaLAN, which is still growing but a really cool event to have locally and see what’s going on, not only in the Toronto space but the Canadian space as well.
