Ana Ávila, from Madrid and better known online as AbuelaVengadora, assumes that she has a unique profile. There are not many streamers that were born in the 50s, and even less if they base their broadcasts on League of Legends. But that game has been Ana’s passion for eleven years, and ending up on Twitch, a way of making the most of the hours she dedicates to it.
The idea of broadcasting her progress on League of Legends was given to her by her 41-year-old son, because above all, what Ana likes is not exactly broadcasting on Twitch, but also, but above all, her love for the game.
Ranks, not ages
The broadcasts started just before the pandemic. “My children told me that I play too many hours, and it is true, I played a lot, but always fulfilling my obligations. My children are no longer small -23, 29 and 41 years old-, so I can do what I want”, he tells Xataka.
“So my son was telling me that I could turn it into something profitable if I streamed at the same time. That made it look like something more work-oriented,” he adds. Indeed, now there are not so many reproaches for time spent. In some broadcast it has even been seen how her husband left her dinner in her setup.
Ana during one of her streams. Image: AvengerGrandma.
“My son already warned me that this would happen: such an old lady is not usual so a lot of people would come to see me. And sometimes they come to see me like in the old days they used to go to the circus to see the bearded woman, and I don’t say that derogatory or offend me, but they see me because I’m an older woman playing League of Legends. I don’t see myself as a 64-year-old woman, what I want is to play this game, and play well. And that people come and say: ‘how well he plays'”, she explains to us.
Ana insists that she is there because she likes League of Legends and because she wants to grow as a player. And she in front of the camera she has lived both that progression and the dreaded stagnation, which in turn has led to stagnation in audience. “Right now I am in a bit of an existential crisis, I think about it. There was a time when I had more people watching me, but it has gone down a lot, for the whole world and also for me.”
This is how Ana refers to the fact that Twitch reached its peak of users during the pandemic and once normality returned, it has not managed to grow again. Something that she has noticed in her own traffic figures. But she also criticizes herself: “It’s also because I’m playing badly. When I played very well, more people came. When I started I was so happy in silver [uno de los rangos del juego], when I reached gold, the chat was full, I received a lot of money… And from there expectations are created. Too much is expected of me. I either play really well, or I eat my nose and get nowhere.” When Ana went gold she got some additional fame in the form of reactions from other creators.
Sin ’tiltear’
This has helped Ana to seek external help to continue improving as a player: she has hired the services of two specialized League of Legends coaches, and has made a two-week break in broadcasts (which lasted until May 29). , also to think about his future… although he is clear that a return to Twitch is inevitable. “I don’t have many viewers, but the people who are here treat me well and make me feel very comfortable.”
Monetizing his love for League of Legends brought him more than a way to escape
Live, Ana usually has between 60 and 90 spectators, on average, but on Twitch he has more than 50,000 followers, and his YouTube channel has nearly 2,000 subscribers. Your timeshift clips have far more views than live viewers. Feeling good with his fans and enjoying the game that he is passionate about are two of the three legs that underpin the project. The other has to do with what goes through our heads at certain times.
“With the pandemic, I lost my job” —Ana worked sculpting nails— “they locked us up at home and I had just configured the setup for Twitch. And playing League of Legends makes you concentrate a lot, it doesn’t give you to think about nothing more. Neither good nor bad. That got me through the pandemic.”
That led to small moments of virality, such as when he posted a clip on TikTok talking about how his mental escape route from a difficult moment was video games. It generated 3,000 comments. “I had a lot of fun reading them, there were some funny ones, but overall it was a lot of fun.”
At this stage, with the channel already consolidated, it is time to think about where to take it. “I don’t generate emotion,” he admits. “So people don’t want to see me play as normal. Without tilting me [gritando, insultando, frustrándose notoriamente por no concentrarse…]… I try the opposite: concentrate. So to be successful I need to play very very well. Maybe I have to settle for what I have, without further expectations. I would like to continue growing and I have not succeeded “, he tells us with an honesty that is unusual in such an environment.
One problem is that to grow he would have certain paths that he does not want to use, and it has nothing to do with his age, but with his personality. “There are people who tell me to look at streamers who get a lot of views, to do things like them. I respect that everyone does what they want, but Those are things I’m not going to do. I see toxic people, or who sexualize their content, shout and insult, make vulgarities… That makes the content creator grow above normal, but I look at creators who have a lot of viewers and subscribers, and play very well, without the need for gossip, vulgarization or sexualization.”
And he adds that “I have children, I don’t like to embarrass them with certain attitudes, rudeness… It doesn’t come out either, I don’t want it for myself, I want to grow in life in another way.”
Ana’s passion for video games began at the time of Space Invaders. “I was going to play billiards, pinball… And when they put on the first arcade I was immediately hooked.”
In 2012 he was hooked on League of Legends. And in a way, now he’s hooked on Twitch, because despite the existential crisis, he feels that he needs to come back. “If I can’t make a living from the stream, life will provide. Although sometimes the stream frustrates me because there are people who come to do harm, It saddens me more to be away from stream. I’ll try to improve my game, and that’s it.”
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Featured Image | AvengerGrandma.
