When Mats Steen passed away in 2014 at the age of 25 due to a degenerative muscular condition, his parents, Robert and Trude Steen, were taken aback when they received condolence calls at their Norwegian home from individuals across Europe. The Steens were aware that their son loved to play video games, but they were unaware that he had played World of Warcraft for almost ten years. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is a documentary that tells the life of Mats and his avatar Ibelin.
In the movie, Mats Steen introduces the viewer to the virtual environment that environment of Warcraft gamers are familiar with by saying, “I leave this world, and I spend most of my time in a distant world called Azeroth.” “My chains are broken in there, and I can be whoever I want to be,” he adds.
His parents were shocked to learn that their son, who had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and spent a large portion of his life in a wheelchair, shared many of the same experiences as other young people his age in terms of friendship, love, and socializing.
