I don't know if this has been posted before, but I'm posting this article now because Netflix has bought the rights to a documentary about the subject, which premiered at Sundance. I haven't seen...
I don't know if this has been posted before, but I'm posting this article now because Netflix has bought the rights to a documentary about the subject, which premiered at Sundance. I haven't seen the documentary, but I'm looking forward to it.
This is, for once, an unambigously positive story about obsessive gamers. It's about a young man named Mats Steen, who had a degenerative muscle disease that confined him to a wheelchair and eventually took his life at the age of only 25. Mats was mostly stuck in his parents' basement due to his condition, but online, he made friendships all over Europe. When he died, these friends, whom he'd never met in person, traveled to Norway to attend the funeral. His parents had only a vague idea that they even existed, and mourned their son's lack of a social life - until they found out.
I've never played WoW, but I can certainly relate to the "having a whole online life your close relatives don't know about" thing. I hope the documentary is good - the director won awards and critical acclaim for his previous documentary, The Painter and the Thief, so I can only assume it's good.
I played WoW back at the beginning of 2005-07,09-10. That first round I can really relate to the social online community. It was very strong even beyond your own guild. I met people then that I...
I played WoW back at the beginning of 2005-07,09-10. That first round I can really relate to the social online community. It was very strong even beyond your own guild. I met people then that I still talk to, albeit not that often. I went to one of their weddings, was invited to another that I regret not doing enough to make (nervous dive is be by myself and it was in Texas and I'm from Chicago). It truly was something else and the people were probably the biggest reason I kept playing that game for as long as I did.
Very cool to see someone who would have struggled to have that kind of connection with others due to the physical disability be able make those friends.
I don't know if this has been posted before, but I'm posting this article now because Netflix has bought the rights to a documentary about the subject, which premiered at Sundance. I haven't seen the documentary, but I'm looking forward to it.
This is, for once, an unambigously positive story about obsessive gamers. It's about a young man named Mats Steen, who had a degenerative muscle disease that confined him to a wheelchair and eventually took his life at the age of only 25. Mats was mostly stuck in his parents' basement due to his condition, but online, he made friendships all over Europe. When he died, these friends, whom he'd never met in person, traveled to Norway to attend the funeral. His parents had only a vague idea that they even existed, and mourned their son's lack of a social life - until they found out.
I've never played WoW, but I can certainly relate to the "having a whole online life your close relatives don't know about" thing. I hope the documentary is good - the director won awards and critical acclaim for his previous documentary, The Painter and the Thief, so I can only assume it's good.
I played WoW back at the beginning of 2005-07,09-10. That first round I can really relate to the social online community. It was very strong even beyond your own guild. I met people then that I still talk to, albeit not that often. I went to one of their weddings, was invited to another that I regret not doing enough to make (nervous dive is be by myself and it was in Texas and I'm from Chicago). It truly was something else and the people were probably the biggest reason I kept playing that game for as long as I did.
Very cool to see someone who would have struggled to have that kind of connection with others due to the physical disability be able make those friends.
Thank you for posting this.