It is not often that I write a blog post for my ‘personal‘ category, but I feel compelled to write about a fellow blogger, gamer and nerd who went by the name Ibelin. His real name was Mats and was a Norwegian man born in the late 80’s and sadly died of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in 2014, aged just 25. I did not know Ibelin, nor did I ever exchange messages with him, but we both fell in love with a game called World of Warcraft and escaped from the realities of our world to Azeroth.
I first heard about Ibelin some years ago. I heard that a man had died and that the community was hurt by the loss. I do not recall where I heard it, I suppose someone told me or maybe I picked it up on the grape vine, but I will forever remember my surprize when I saw there had recently been a Netflix documentary made about him called ‘The Remarkable Life of Ibelin‘. I watched the documentary and found it amazing that Ibelin had touched so many people’s lives, but it is not entirely surprising to me. I would encourage anyone to watch the documentary, even if you have never set foot in Azeroth. If you do not have the time then the below YouTube video promoting Cure Duchenne will summarize how remarkable Ibelin really was in this online world some call home.
As well as helping to promote and support Cure Duchenne with a ‘Reven Pack’ microtransaction, a monument was added to the retail version of Azeroth as featured above. It reads ‘Deeply missed, never forgotten’. There are many monuments in Azeroth, but this is the only one I know where so many people took the time to pay their respects. I don’t know if it makes any difference, but when I visited the monument I decided to bring my first character that I created in 2004 at the beginning of my journey. Perhaps I am bring overly sentimental, but it felt right.
I will admit that while watching The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, I cried. But it wasn’t all because of Ibelin, his struggles and untimely death. Part of it was because I wondered if I had ever touched peoples lives in this way, and, after 20 years of playing the game, I have come to the realization that I do not think I have. It’s not because I am constantly a troll or intentionally unkind, but I am shy and reserved most of the time. When I think of the opportunities I might have missed to make someone’s day, but kept quiet and did nothing, I am filled with sadness and sorrow. I do not play World of Warcraft very often anymore, but perhaps now I will make an effort.
It’s rather dated, but if you have made it this far, watched the above video and documentary, you might be interested in reading Mats blog which he called Musings of life. I would like to end my post with a quote from his blog. I don’t have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, nor do I have a handicap, but it’s something that I recognize in myself.
“My great escape is gaming. I boot up the computer, get into position and then I leave this world. It’s not a screen, it’s a gateway to wherever your heart desires. I spend most of my time in a little place called Azeroth, familiar name to some, I’m sure. In there my handicap doesn’t matter, my chains are broken and I can be whoever I want to be. In there I feel normal.”
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