VIDEO: Parents discover son's secret life after his death
Mats Steen had a digital life that no one in his family knew about...
Mats Steen lived his whole life suffering from a degenerative disease called Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder characterised by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness.
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For Mats, most of his life was spent being confined to a wheelchair and not being able to do what most kids and adults his age were doing.
Mats spent most of his time in his apartment before he passed away at 25.
His parents, Trude and Robert Steen, didn't think their child was truly living and enjoying life.
He was spending most of his time playing games, and they were not big fans of the fact that he spent most of his time online.
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However, after his death, they discovered that his online life was so much more than they could have ever expected.
They found a personal blog that Mats had run.
They knew about his love for the video game 'World of Warcraft', but they did not realise the impact it had on his life and how, through the game, he was able to live a full life.
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After his death, his parents started receiving email after email from strangers who were sharing that they had met Mats in the gaming community and he had changed many of their lives in different ways.
Through 'World of Warcraft', he was able to connect with people and form incredible friendships.
Known online as Ibelin Redmoore, Mats played the game as a heroic nobleman and monster slayer, and he even had a romantic relationship.
We thought he lived, for many reasons, a wasted life. And then we get these stories sharing just the opposite. The sad thing is that we were very strong on condemning the time they were spending in that world, and that condemnation was based on a five-minute analysis. 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.
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Filmmaker Benjamin Ree has now turned Mats' life into a beautiful documentary called, 'The Remarkable Life of Ibelin'.
The film will be available on Netflix and features interviews with his best friends and competitors, as well as footage from his own archive.
The film takes us on a journey through the breadth of Mats Steen’s adventurous online life, introducing us to Ibelin, his charismatic World of Warcraft persona, and underscores how community and soulful relationships can transcend the boundaries of the physical world.
You can watch the trailer for the movie here:
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Main image courtesy of Netflix/YouTube