Mats Steen was a disabled Norwegian Gamer who suffered from a rare degenerative muscular disease called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). A documentary about his life will soon be released on Netflix. Titled Ibelin, this documentary premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
According to Tudum by Netflix, Ibelin features interviews with the deceased gamer’s best friends and competitors. Furthermore, it has content from Steen’s archives. Reports suggest that the gamer’s parents, Robert and Trude, learned about his son’s condition in 1993. After they took their son to the doctor, they were informed that the patient has DMD and may live to be older than 20.
However, Steen’s illness did not stop him from having a passion for gaming. He managed to develop deep friendships across vast distances. Surprisingly, his parents weren’t aware of their son’s favorite pastime.
According to Tudum by Netflix, the description of Ibelin reads, “For Mats Steen, a Norwegian gamer who suffered from a degenerative muscular disease, his time spent playing World of Warcraft gave him a powerful way to connect with a community of like-minded people. He was able to form deep friendships across vast distances despite his physical disability because of a passion and pastime that he kept hidden from his family.”
It further reads, “Steen passed away at the age of 25, and his parents thought his disease had kept him isolated — but in reality, he’d been an integral and beloved part of a digital community that loudly mourned his passing.”
What was Mats Steen’s favorite game?
According to BBC, Mats Steen’s favorite game was World of Warcraft. In the game, his name was Lord Ibelin Redmoore, but he would sometimes go by the name Jerome Walker. Mats wrote, “Jerome and Ibelin are extensions of myself, they represent different sides of me.”
Mats was fascinated by Azeroth, a fictional planet in World of Warcraft. This planet has continents, seas and forests, cliffs and plains, villages and cities. However, he reportedly spent most of his time in a territory called Eastern Kingdoms. Throughout this game, he managed to make a huge circle of meaningful friendships.
BBC reports that Super Mario used to play his handheld Game Boy when he was young. However, when he was 11, his father gave him access to the family computer, after which he developed a passion for online gaming.
