'He was an incurable romantic': The boy who lived a secret life in World of Warcraft
'He was an incurable romantic': The boy who lived a secret life in World of Warcraft
A new documentary, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, explores the friendships a disabled boy forged in an online game – without his family knowing.
Years ago I used to play tabletop RPG games. One time I met a guy and we became friends. We've seen each other on the weekly gaming sessions but every now and then he was unavailable due to other arrangements. At some point I learned he was spending some weekends with his disabled neighbor playing various card games and (pardon lack of specific language) some warhammer figure like strategies. I said I would like to be a part of those sessions and eventually we formed an unusual "fellowship". Few years later when the disabled boy passed away, his mother said that these weekends were what kept him going.
(pardon lack of specific language) some warhammer figure like strategies
Somebody may correct me, but I believe "wargaming" is the term you were looking for
That was sad, heartwarming, and inspiring.
I’ve never been into RPGs and didn’t really understand the appeal. I now regret missing out on the communities that these games can seemingly foster. I was more into Minecraft on my own, which allowed me to escape but the loneliness was probably made worse and thus any low mood that followed.
Really glad I went against my initial instinct that I wouldn’t enjoy this programme as it was really well made.
As someone who was lucky enough to get to experience those first ~6 years; it truly was lightning in a bottle.
20 years on, I am still friends with a number of those I met in WOW - and an in contact with a few more beyond that!
Unfortunately, it does feel like that sense of community those early years fostered are long gone, save perhaps a blip when Classic first launched.
Who knows when the next game will come along, which will be able to foster such relationships.
Most games now have all the "qol" features that remove the need to communicate if that is even possible at all. It is a sad world we live in where everything has to go faster all the time. More dopamine per minute.
I also was in for the first couple of years in wow and even played Dark Age of Camelot before that and some Ultima online also. It was a different world back then. As a gamer I had all the time in the world to sink into these games. As an adult and a parent I got no time to sit down for hours upon hours to play like I did back then but I wish that kids that grow up today should have the same opportunity as I did to experience this.
I read of such stories once in a while. Sadly, I cannot relate because I always played singleplayer games back then, so I missed out on that. But I would like to add that joining pve world events in guild wars 2, there is some chance that there are people chatting publicly like they have known each other for a long time. Not sure what is is worth, though, but it always give good vibes to work together. Me playing mostly wvw (pvp) we (me and my friend) somehow found some likeminded people who invited us to their private voice chat and talk there while playing together. It is not very often, but it is a start, I guess.
Not sure where I was going with that but I though I add what I could I guess. Thank you for reading!
Thanks for sharing your experience in this world.
Do you have any idea what changed over that time to make the game evolve to lose that sense of community?
Is it a numbers thing in that it got so large it became more difficult to build longstanding communities? Or something else.
I’m just very interested in this now.
It's odd, even games like Halo 3 back in the day. I was also a solo player and never thought I fit into a team. I'm a Leroy, I will rush in grenades flying, shotgun blasting so I prefer to play alone. But one time I joined a group and they kept inviting me and we became a unit. They liked that I would rush in the back of an enemy hiding place and flush everyone out with my grenades, shotguns and screaming. I may get killed rushing in there but I'll take at least one down and flush out the rest for my teammates to pick off.
I miss that group
I’m gonna watch this, but it’s gonna make me cry man haha
I also had a friend on WoW who also had an incurable illness and eventually passed away. We spent hours together on Ventrilo back in the day
We were Horde though, lol
I want to watch this but also know it will wreck me
Even just the article was making me feel strange emotions
Oh man. Onions.
For Azeroth, Ibelin.
Ah fuck this is such a hard read to much emotion. What a beautiful thing the internet is. Reading this kind of unblackpilled me a bit and reminded me of the relationships and realness that are experienced online in virtual worlds.
Google says this documentary is on Netflix for those also curious. Haven't logged in to verify, but maybe someone else can fact check that.
At least in Germany it is available on Netflix.
But be warned: the trailer attracted a legion of Ninjas who immediately started cutting onions in my living room.
Internet saved so many disabled lives
This movie is a must watch. Absolutely bittersweet in the best way.
🥲
Was his username Fireheart?