Now on Netflix (at least in the US), The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is an acclaimed documentary about the amazing secret life of a young man with muscle-wasting disorder who flourished within his World of Warcraft guild (trailer above). As regular readers know, stories like these happen all the time across all virtual worlds, but it's great to see them finally getting more recognition among people beyond the immersive realm.
Speaking of which, don't miss my interview with a WoW designer who argues that the company moved away from the game's community/social aspect to its detriment. And, of course, don't miss The Nine Souls of Wilde Cunningham.
And via Cajsa, here's a beautifully-written London Times article on Ibelin:
Their son had lived by another name. To his family he had simply been Mats. But within World of Warcraft he had existed for years as a charismatic adventurer named “Ibelin”, a strapping swashbuckler with auburn hair tied back in a ponytail and a butch goatee beard. And it was as this digital alter ego that Mats had thrived in a way his family had never appreciated. They had misunderstood what World of Warcraft really was. It had seemed to them like a frenetic action game of monster-bashing and point-scoring. To Mats and the many people he played with – the people now emailing Robert and Trude – it was something far more profound: an immersive world built on social interactions, friendships and shared storytelling. Robert smiles. “This window started to open up to us that let us see he had another life besides his physical life. And that it had been so rich, so big and so full of contentment.”
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