The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (2024)
October 26, 2024 1:08 PM - Subscribe
Mats Steen, a Norwegian gamer, died of a degenerative muscular disease at the age of 25. His parents mourned what they thought had been a lonely and isolated life, when they started receiving messages from online friends around the world. A documentary in two parts, first IRL, then in WoW, and then those worlds meet.
NYT: ‘The Remarkable Life of Ibelin’ Review: More Real Than Reality
An unconventional documentary tells the story of a Norwegian gamer — and of how we live life on the internet.
BBC: 'He was an incurable romantic': The boy who lived a secret life in World of Warcraft
Guardian: The Remarkable Life of Ibelin review – moving tale of disabled gamer’s digital double life
NYT: ‘The Remarkable Life of Ibelin’ Review: More Real Than Reality
An unconventional documentary tells the story of a Norwegian gamer — and of how we live life on the internet.
BBC: 'He was an incurable romantic': The boy who lived a secret life in World of Warcraft
Guardian: The Remarkable Life of Ibelin review – moving tale of disabled gamer’s digital double life
I did so much ugly crying at this.
It does fall very firmly on the "online friends are friends, period" side of things, but I'm OK with that. It also doesn't do the whole "cyberspace freed him of his disability!" thing or anything. Mats is very clear about his limitations but World of Warcraft gave him a way to be social that his physical reality did not.
The WoW recreations are fun and I'm glad they had all these archives of content to reconstruct these scenes and give a fuller picture of who Mats was.
I liked getting to know his WoW friends in person and as they dealt with his passing and realizing Mats' reality. I wish there was more interaction between them and Mats' family, but that's OK.
(I also think there's a non-zero chance that I may know some people who know some people who were involved because I do have some connections to nerdy Nordic communities.)
I definitely recommend this. Just be ready. It's a beautiful journey but it's a lot.
posted by edencosmic at 4:17 PM on October 26 [1 favorite]
It does fall very firmly on the "online friends are friends, period" side of things, but I'm OK with that. It also doesn't do the whole "cyberspace freed him of his disability!" thing or anything. Mats is very clear about his limitations but World of Warcraft gave him a way to be social that his physical reality did not.
The WoW recreations are fun and I'm glad they had all these archives of content to reconstruct these scenes and give a fuller picture of who Mats was.
I liked getting to know his WoW friends in person and as they dealt with his passing and realizing Mats' reality. I wish there was more interaction between them and Mats' family, but that's OK.
(I also think there's a non-zero chance that I may know some people who know some people who were involved because I do have some connections to nerdy Nordic communities.)
I definitely recommend this. Just be ready. It's a beautiful journey but it's a lot.
posted by edencosmic at 4:17 PM on October 26 [1 favorite]
Yeah, it's ugly cry for the whole runtime. Really lovely, though.
posted by chainlinkspiral at 4:25 PM on October 26 [1 favorite]
posted by chainlinkspiral at 4:25 PM on October 26 [1 favorite]
(I also don't like some the reviews framing that Mats was living a "secret" or "double" life. Mats was living his life. He maybe got to the be the person he wanted to be in WoW but that was also the person he was. I understand some people are different online than they are in person/etc. but me, I'm the same person online as I am in real life. Mats was always just Mats. He just got to experience things differently in WoW than he did in his physical life but he was always the same person.)
posted by edencosmic at 6:04 PM on October 26
posted by edencosmic at 6:04 PM on October 26
I also don't like some the reviews framing that Mats was living a "secret" or "double" life.
Well, it does sound like his family, the people closest to him offline, had no idea where he was spending so much of his life.
posted by praemunire at 10:25 PM on October 26
Well, it does sound like his family, the people closest to him offline, had no idea where he was spending so much of his life.
posted by praemunire at 10:25 PM on October 26
I cried just reading a story about him in The Times a few weeks ago, so I'll keep some tissues handy before tackling the documentary itself...
posted by rory at 1:50 AM on October 27
posted by rory at 1:50 AM on October 27
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by Stanczyk at 1:13 PM on October 26