VOA新闻杂志2024--Chilean Grandmother Is a Top Video Game Player

Chilean Grandmother Is a Top Video Game Player

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 nickname¹ 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 competitive².

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 followers³ 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 ambassador⁴ 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 Catholic⁵ University for helping⁶ break down age stereotypes⁸.

"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 alias⁹ 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.

Words in This Story

character –n. someone who appears in books, movies, stories or games

nickname — n. a names that is different from a real name but is used by family or friends

mouse — n. (computer) a device used to control a computer by pointing to images on a screen

autograph — n. the name of a person writing in their own handwriting

stereotype⁷ — n. a believe that people all people of a certain group have one or more qualities that are usually considered bad or undesirable

1 nickname   

n.绰号，昵称；v.给...取绰号，叫错名字

参考例句：

• She called me by my nickname.她叫我的外号。
• Why do you fasten such a nickname on her?你为什么给她取这样一个绰号？

2 competitive   

adj.竞争的，比赛的，好竞争的，有竞争力的

参考例句：

• Some kinds of business are competitive.有些商业是要竞争的。
• These businessmen are both competitive and honourable.这些商人既有竞争性又很诚实。

3 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

4 ambassador   

n.大使，特使，（派驻国际组织的）代表

参考例句：

• He took up office as an ambassador for ten years continuously.他连任十年大使。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

5 catholic   

adj.天主教的；n.天主教徒

参考例句：

• The Pope is the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.教皇是罗马天主教的最高领袖。
• She was a devoutly Catholic.她是一个虔诚地天主教徒。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

8 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 alias   

n.化名；别名；adv.又名

参考例句：

• His real name was Johnson,but he often went by the alias of Smith.他的真名是约翰逊，但是他常常用化名史密斯。
• You can replace this automatically generated alias with a more meaningful one.可用更有意义的名称替换这一自动生成的别名。