The Extraordinary Life of Ibelin The Extraordinary Life of Ibelin is the heartbreaking tale of a Norwegian man, Mats Steen, who was afflicted with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). According to the film, Mats led a full virtual life in World of Warcraft through his avatar, Ibelin, largely unknown to his family. The couple were very surprised by the depth of Mats’s relationships within the gaming community when, following his premature death in 2014 at age 25, people from all over Europe reached out to mourn him.
Mats’s Virtual Life:
Mats Steen started telling his life story in the documentary by saying through an actor, “I leave this world, and I spend most of my time in a distant world called Azeroth.” Mats used it for nine years to escape the barriers of the physical world, make friends, and eventually find love.
Parental Revelation: Robert Steen recounts the great revelation they learned posthumously about the life of their son, regretting that they saw Mats’s life as lonely. He narrates how emotional the outpouring was when online communities showed the power to make the Steens understand that Mats made very significant connections, virtual as those might be.
Structure of the Documentary:
Filmmaker Benjamin Ree constructed the narrative through combining personal VHS footage, blog excerpts from Mats, and interviews from gaming friends. The documentary also animates Mats’s interactions and feelings as Ibelin, giving his virtual life the emotional depth uniquely to this particular film.
Themes Explored:
This film throws up essential questions about digital relationships, such as
Can virtual friendships be as concrete as real-life ones?
What does an avatar do within our selves?
What would the social interaction development spell for our future generation?
According to Robert Steen, the boundaries between virtual relationships and real-life ones are going to blur soon; the younger generations won’t make any distinction. This changes the language of games or relations, pointing towards valuable relationships that happen in a virtual domain.The movie shows a moving testimony of Mats’s friends, claiming that the advice and support of this man marked the crucial point in their lives. A young woman recalls the period in her life when she went through some tough times thanks to the guidance of Mats. Other people recall the moments he made games fun and participated in the building of the sense of community and belonging.
Ibelin was Mats’s alter ego. Through his life in Azeroth, he was allowed the exploration of love, friendship, and identity that is often unattainable within his own physical life. The documentary has won much acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival for its rich portrayal of digital identity and true human connections possible in virtual worlds.