Chilean Grandmother Is a Top Video Game Player

2024-01-09 16:23:00来源：网络

Chilean Grandmother Is a Top Video Game Player

智利的祖母是顶级的电子游戏玩家

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　　By Dan Novak

　　06 January 2024

　　Few players of the online video game Free Fire know that one of their top opponents is an 81-year-old grandmother from rural Chile.

　　From her professional gaming chair at home in a small village, Maria Elena Arevalo becomes a hunter. She shoots down opponents in a game in which tens of millions of players fight to survive on an imaginary island.

　　Arevalo does not look like her online character "Mami Nena." That is the nickname she got from her only grandson, Hector Carrasco who is 20.

　　It was Carrasco who introduced Arevalo to the digital world of gaming. It has given her a new excitement for life after falling into deep loneliness following the death of her husband of 56 years in 2020.

　　"I didn't even know what a mouse was," she told AFP at her home in the town of Llay-Llay in central Chile.

　　"Afterwards, I got excited. We started to play whenever [Carrasco] could. I felt better because I didn't think so much about my late husband anymore."

　　At first "I didn't want to hurt anyone," she added, but with time, she grew more competitive.

　　Today, Arevalo plays at the "Heroic" level. That is just one level below the highest "Grandmaster" level, which only 300 players compete in. She has 4 million followers on social media service TikTok and 650,000 on YouTube, where she shares tips with fellow players.

　　Last year, she visited Mexico City as a Free Fire ambassador for the game's anniversary celebrations. The cost-free trip was her first outside of Chile.

　　"All the kids asked me for autographs...It was beautiful. The day I die, I'll take that with me," she said.

　　Earlier this month, Arevalo was named one of Chile's 100 most important older people by the El Mercurio newspaper and the Catholic University for helping break down age stereotypes.

　　"It's totally cool, and...I feel like she's like my best friend," Carrasco said of his famous grandmother.

　　Three years after starting to play Free Fire, Arevalo said she no longer feels lonely. But a recent study found that nearly half of people over 80 in Chile say they feel lonely.

　　Older people are finding comfort in gaming. For example, a Ukrainian team known as "Young Guard" are strong Counter Strike competitors. A 93-year-old Japanese named Hamako Mori is thought to be the oldest gamer in the world. She is also known by her alias Gamer Grandma.

　　For Arevalo, gaming is becoming harder for her because of a worsening skin condition. But she is not planning to slow down.

　　"I love doing this. I'll keep going as far as I can," she said.

　　I'm Dan Novak.

　　Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by Agence France-Presse.

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　　作者：Dan Novak

　　2024年1月6日

　　在线视频游戏Free Fire的许多玩家都不知道，他们的顶级对手之一是来自智利农村的81岁老奶奶。

　　在她家中的专业游戏椅上，来自一个小村庄的Maria Elena Arevalo变成了一名猎人。在这款游戏中，数千万玩家在一个虚构的岛屿上争夺生存，而她则在游戏中击败对手。

　　Arevalo的线上角色"Mami Nena"和她本人的样子并不相符。这个昵称是她唯一的孙子，20岁的Hector Carrasco给她取的。

　　正是Carrasco将Arevalo引入了数字游戏的世界。在2020年失去了与她共度56年的丈夫后，她陷入了深深的孤独，而游戏给了她新的生活激情。

　　"我甚至不知道什么是鼠标，"她在智利中部城镇Llay-Llay的家中告诉AFP。