20 years in the past, Zhong Juanjuan would go to web cafes on the lookout for her teenage son and typically drag him residence due to his gaming behavior. Right this moment, the roles have fully reversed. The 60-year-old from China has turn out to be a gaming streamer herself, with greater than 527,000 followers on-line.
Often known as Auntie Juan, Zhong now hosts two gaming dwell streams each day, usually drawing round 10,000 viewers to every session. What started as an try to know her son’s fascination with video video games has changed into an sudden on-line profession.
Why did she begin gaming?
In response to South China Morning Post, Zhong lives in a suburban space of Meizhou in Guangdong province and solely started taking part in laptop video games round six years in the past. She had accomplished main college and labored a number of part-time jobs, together with gross sales and childcare, earlier than retiring.
Her angle in direction of gaming was very completely different when her youthful son, identified on-line as Suode, was a secondary college pupil. He turned closely concerned in gaming, and Zhong blamed it for his falling grades. She would go to web cafes to seek out him, resulting in frequent arguments between the 2.
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Years later, Suode left his job and commenced spending lengthy hours gaming at residence. As a substitute of criticising him, Zhong turned interested by what made the video games so interesting and determined to attempt them herself. Suode was shocked by his mom’s new curiosity however started educating her tips on how to play.
The educational curve was steep. Zhong struggled to maneuver across the digital world, usually hitting partitions, turning round and discovering it tough to climb stairs. Her eyesight and slower response time additionally made gaming difficult, however she stored practising and steadily improved.
From gaming classes to streaming fame
Zhong finally turned expert at taking pictures video games and has gathered greater than 8,000 hours of gameplay. She began live-streaming in 2022, and viewers had been fascinated by the sight of an older girl taking part in competitively and utilizing gaming slang related to youthful gamers.
In response to South China Morning Post, her breakthrough got here in December 2024 when she was invited to an internet exhibition match for Counter-Strike: International Offensive. Amongst her opponents was 17-year-old Russian gaming star donk, who had lately turn out to be a world champion. Zhong managed to eradicate him through the match.
Her recognition additionally introduced scepticism. Some viewers questioned whether or not one other particular person was secretly controlling her character. To show in any other case, Suode arrange a number of cameras to report his mom from completely different angles whereas she performed.
‘Ought to I solely be relegated to family chores?’
Zhong has confronted criticism for spending a lot time gaming at her age. Her response was easy: “As a mom, ought to I solely be relegated to family chores?”
She additionally argues that gaming retains the mind energetic and improves hand-eye coordination.
Her son is now her full-time agent, creating an amusing reversal of their relationship. Years after Zhong as soon as pulled him away from gaming, Suode now makes certain his mom switches off the web at midnight so she doesn’t play too late.
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Zhong has additionally spoken about being recognised in public, recalling a middle-aged man at a moist market who advised her, “Auntie Juan, I noticed you taking part in video games on social media.”
For Zhong, gaming is greater than a pastime. “It’s by no means too late to start out studying one thing new,” she stated.