When Mats Steen died at age 25, his parents were devastated—not only by the loss of their son at such a young age, but by what they saw as his lonely, isolated life. Steen had been diagnosed as a toddler with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic muscle wasting disorder that gradually took away his ability to walk, feed himself, or even cough. By the time he died in 2014, he spent most his time playing World of Warcraft, an online role-playing game based in a fantasy world. He also wrote a blog, and when his parents updated it with news of his death, they were shocked to discover just how rich and full of community Steen's days had actually been, reports the Times in a lengthy look at Steen's extraordinary online life.
In World of Warcraft, Steen played a strapping, bearded hero named Ibelin, and was a member of a guild called Starlight. He was a prolific poster on the guild's message boards, and had strong friendships and even in-game romances. People who knew him started to tell his parents stories of how he'd impacted their lives—helping an online paramour to emerge from a depression, listening to the troubles of his online friends, urging a mom to connect with her autistic son via the game. "In this other world, a girl wouldn't see a wheelchair or anything different," Steen once reflected. "They would see my soul, heart and mind, conveniently placed in some strong body." A documentary about Steen's online world, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, premieres on Netflix October 25. Read the full, moving piece at the Times. (More Longform stories.)
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