Source: AFP
Few players of the online video game Free Fire would know that one of their fiercest opponents — a burly gun warrior in a short kimono and fang mask — is actually an 81-year-old grandmother from rural Chile.
From her professional gaming chair at home in a small village, soft-spoken Maria Elena Arevalo becomes a ruthless hunter, mowing down her opponents in a game in which tens of millions of players shoot her to survive on a fictional remote island.
Wearing an apron over an elegant skirt, Arevalo bears little resemblance to her online alter-ego “Mami Nena” — the nickname she got from her only grandson, Hector Carrasco, 20.
It was Carrasco who introduced Arevalo to the digital world of gaming that gave her a new lease of life after she fell into deep loneliness following the death of her 56-year-old husband in 2020.
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“I didn’t even know what a mouse was,” she told AFP at her home in the city of Llay-Llay in central Chile.
“Afterwards, I got excited. We started playing whenever (Carrasco) could. I felt better because I wasn’t thinking about my late husband so much anymore.”
At first “I didn’t want to hurt anybody,” he added, but over time, he developed a taste for virtual blood.
Today, Arevalo plays at the “Heroic” level — just one short of the top “Grandmaster” level where only 300 players compete.
He has four million followers on TikTok and 650,000 on YouTube, where he shares tips with other gamers.
Last year, she visited Mexico City on an all-expenses-paid trip as a Free Fire ambassador for the game’s anniversary celebrations — her first trip abroad.
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Source: AFP
“All the kids asked for my autograph… It was beautiful. The day I die, I’ll take it with me,” he recalled.
Earlier this month, Arevalo was named one of Chile’s 100 most influential seniors by the newspaper El Mercurio and the Catholic University for helping to break down ageist stereotypes.
Carrasco is in awe of his famous grandmother.
“It’s really cool and I don’t know, I feel like she’s my best friend and everything,” she said.
‘I will continue’
Three years after starting her Free Fire journey, Arevalo says she no longer feels lonely.
In a nod to her dead husband, a bird named “Benito” in his honor accompanies “Mami Nena” on her conquests.
Almost half of people over 80 in Chile say they feel lonely, a major mental health risk, according to a recent study.
Source: AFP
More and more seniors are finding solace in gaming: a Ukrainian group known as “Young Guard” are prolific competitors in Counter Strike, while 93-year-old Japanese Hamako Mori — also known by her nickname Gamer Grandma — is believed to be the oldest player in people.
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For Arevalo, online campaigns are made more difficult by the worsening of scleroderma, a disease that causes the skin to harden and tighten.
But he has no plans to slow down.
“I love doing this. I’ll continue as far as I can,” he insisted.
Source: AFP