‘I am valued here’: the extraordinary film that recreates a disabled boy’s rich digital life

Mats Steen had muscular dystrophy and died very young. But a touching new documentary has used animation and his own posts to reveal the fulfilling gaming life he led in World of Warcraft - right down to his first kiss

The night after their son Mats died aged just 25, Trude and Robert Steen sat on the sofa in their living room in Oslo with their daughter Mia. They couldn't sleep. Everything was a blur," remembers Trude of that day 10 years ago. Then Robert said, Maybe we should reach out to Mats' friends in World of Warcraft.'"

Mats was born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a progressive condition that causes the muscles to weaken gradually. He was diagnosed aged four and started using a wheelchair at 10. By the end of his life, Mats could only move his fingers, and required a tube to clear his throat every 15 minutes. As he became increasingly disabled, he spent more time gaming: 20,000 hours in his last decade (about the same as if it were a full-time job).