Mats Steen suffered from a debilitating muscular disease that left him confined to his apartment, but after his death at the age of 25, his parents discovered his secret online life that filled him with joy.
Trude and Robert Steen discovered that the Norwegian man had a popular and satisfying social life his personal blog and his online role-playing video game World of Warcraft.
The parents and sister Mia knew that Mats would spend hours online with special equipment to accommodate his disability.
But until his death, his father and mother believed that his life had been sadly lonely. Shortly after his death, they began receiving hundreds of emails from strangers who seemed to know him extremely well.
Mats Steen from Norway died of a degenerative muscle disease at the age of 25, but he led a secret life online
Mats was an avid player of World of Warcraft, an online gaming phenomenon under the name Ibelin Redmoore, seen above
Only after his death did his parents, Trude and Robert Steen, along with his sister Mia, discover how widely known and celebrated Mats was online for his personal blog and the video game World of Warcraft
The family discovered how their son had found friendships and even romance in the gaming community.
Trude and Robert had believed their son had led a somewhat isolated life, relying on a wheelchair to get by, after being diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic condition that affected his ability to move and breathe.
But their minds were about to be blown when hundreds of people contacted the Oslo-based family to express their condolences following the death of their son.
The first they knew of their son’s secret life came after they announced his death on his online blogwhich contained an email address for users to contact the family.
Mat’s parents and sister expected some answers, but were unprepared for the reality as they were inundated with hundreds of strangers writing to them. Moreover, Mats was known by a completely different name: Ibelin Redmoore.
Trude and Robert Steen had believed that their son had led a somewhat isolated life, relying on a wheelchair to get around, but he had an extensive network of friends.
Mats was born in 1989 and was a happy child: energetic and gentle
Mats spent hours of his life online playing World of Warcraft
Mats had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic condition that affected his ability to move and breathe and would eventually kill him at the age of 25.
Mats played World of Warcraft with special equipment to accommodate his disability
As a Redmoore, Mats was an avid player of World of Warcraft, an online gaming phenomenon.
Redmoore was a heroic nobleman and monster slayer, with Mats controlling his every move as he sat alone in an apartment above his parents in Oslo.
Through the gaming platform, he had managed to build meaningful friendships and even romantic relationships.
Redmoore had built up an extensive network of friends over the years and was known for his kindness and empathy.
Like many parents, Robert and Trude had even discouraged Mats from spending too much time online and suggested he foster connections in the real world.
“We thought he was, for many reasons, living a wasted life. And then we get these stories that tell the exact opposite,” Robert began.
“The sad thing is that we were very strong in condemning the time they spent in that world, and that condemnation was based on a five-minute analysis,” Robert told The independent.
Mats as Ibelin Redmoore went on dates with other members of the gaming community
One of his dates appears in the new Netflix documentary about his life
“We did all the right things and we were so present in our children’s lives. With one exception – and that is the digital part of their lives.’
The incredible double life led by Mats has been explored in a new Netflix documentary, The remarkable life of Ibelin, out on Friday.
The film shows how online gaming can be a gateway to another world; one of friendship and romance and which offers a kind of escape for people who are severely disabled.
‘In Scandinavia at least we have the feeling that we are becoming more and more fragmented. Everyone takes care of himself and his own affairs; we have become extremely individualistic, focused on our own things,” Robert said.
“These collective solutions that we had a few generations ago have, in a sense, disappeared. So if this could be one of the messages from this story – the kindness we can bring to a community, to the world – that would be great
‘Mats could help so many people in his condition without being able to move more than just his fingers. “Imagine what the rest of us could do if we put our minds to it,” he added.
Robert, Trude and Mia Steen will be seen in January at the Sundance Film Festival, where the film had its first public screening
The documentary sees a world where online gaming can be a place of opportunity for disabled players.
Using the World of Warcraft archive containing thousands of words of interactions between Mats and his friends, the film recreates his digital life, using game-style animations and voice actors speaking his words out loud.
Of course, it also leads to a whole host of fantasy characters of different shapes and sizes – but this was the world Ibelin discovered – a whole new world where anything was possible, free from the limitations imposed by his disability.
“It creates environments where no physical barriers exist, allowing players to interact with each other on an equal footing,” says author Marijam Did. written about about the impact of video games.
‘In this digital world, entire communities and livelihoods are created. Of course, I would always encourage combining it with physical interaction – too much of anything isn’t great – but we need to de-aestheticize what interaction is.”