(CNN Spanish) – – There is one… he goes to the other area… yes!… chiuuuuu!
Amid gunfire, clicking and hasty exclamations, María Elena Arévalo, an 81-year-old homeowner, analyzes the movements of “her enemies” – as she calls them – through the computer screen.
At her home in the town of Llay Llay, 90 kilometers from Santiago de Chile, she wears an apron and turns on a fan to beat the intense heat wave hitting the southern country while playing “Free Fire,” a popular shooting video game , plays . online, where millions of players try to survive on an imaginary island. There, María Elena has a figure who wears a kimono, firearms and a phoenix who accompanies her and whom she calls “Benito” in honor of her late husband.
“I started playing around there in 2018. My husband died so I was left alone. I was just with my grandson who lived here. He had all of these things. Then he said, 'Why don't you learn to play?' so she doesn't sit here? Why isn't she playing?'” says María Elena, better known online as “Mami Nena”.
After the death of her husband, with whom she lived for more than 50 years, she fell into a deep depression, says “Mami Nena”. But the persistence of her grandson Héctor Carrasco, a 20-year-old business student, finally convinced her.
“I didn't even know how to move the mouse, I didn't know how to touch a key, none of that. But he taught me so that I no longer felt the pain,” says the grandmother.
They started playing more and more with their grandson, recording videos and content for social networks. And to the surprise of several Internet users, “Mami Nena’s” skills stood out. “It gave me joy because I was playing with another person. I felt better there. And it wasn't just one person, it was multiple people playing the game. Until I started giving it to him, and I.” “I liked it,” says “Mommy Nena.”
The popularity of the “gamer grandmother” began to grow in Latin America and around the world. Her YouTube channel, where she uploads videos of her playing and commenting on the games, already has more than 640,000 subscribers and she is already followed by more than 380,000 people on TikTok. In 2022, the company that developed the video game itself decided to invite her to an event in Mexico City as an influential face of the “Free Fire” brand. She couldn't believe it.
“I never imagined it because I said, Why are they inviting me to Mexico? There are so many other people. That can't be. But they invited me! I had a good time, so I'm grateful to Mexico.” “They were patient with me, they had me everywhere because I was the oldest there, the 'influencers' were very, very young and I was the oldest” says “Mami Nena” between laughs.
But the recognition didn't end there. In December 2023, the Catholic University of Chile decided to name her one of the southern country's 100 senior adult leaders and invited her to a special ceremony in Santiago. María Elena insists that she owes everything to her grandson Héctor: “It’s because of my grandson. If it wasn't for him, I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't be here. Because I locked myself in my house,” but I went out with him, I started acting, I started doing other things.
For his part, Héctor Carrasco says his grandmother taught him that “any person, no matter what age, can achieve anything they set their mind to.” “She taught me too many things. And very important things,” says the student with a smile and looks askance at his grandmother.
María Elena says that she now plays much less than before due to scleroderma, a disease that causes the skin on her hands to harden. However, he insists that he can't stick to “doing nothing” and that it's important for older adults to “have a hobby.”
“You have to do something, even if it's a game, any game, but don't let it stop you. Do anything, learn what you want to learn, knit, sew, do what you can. As older adults there.” “There is still a lot to do,” emphasizes mommy Nena.
With an active mind and following the exercises recommended by her doctor, the “gamer grandmother” affirms that she will continue gaming as long as her health allows. For her grandson, for her fans, but most of all for herself.