Dylan “dmg04” Gafner left the game company Bungie at the end of 2022: He had worked there as a Community Manager for Destiny 2 and had to endure some insults throughout 2022. He and his family were even threatened with murder. Now he is moving to Valorant, a game known for its toxic community. Meanwhile, Bungie calls for radio silence.
How did he leave?
- Gafner worked at Bungie for nearly 8 years since 2015. The departure of dmg04 came as a surprise at the end of 2022 because he did not start a new job but quit his job at Bungie and didn’t know what to do next. He called it a leap of faith back then.
- Before the decision, Gafner had often critically engaged with the toxic parts of the Destiny 2 community, had taken a break from the internet, and urged fans to behave: If they continued to speak so aggressively with developers, soon no one would talk to them anymore, he predicted.
- In 2022, there were repeatedly open and even frightening threats against him and his family. One threatened, “One moves in near him and then it is no longer safe for him.” As a result, Destiny 2 restricted communication with players. They sued – even successfully – repeatedly noticeable offenders.
Gafner moves to Riot Games and manages Valorant
Where is he now? Gafner starts a new position at Riot Games on July 31. He will be “Principal Global Community Strategist”: He says he is looking forward to working with the global community of Valorant.
The man in his thirties says he is very impressed by the “Player First” philosophy at Riot Games, where everything revolves around the players. In every conversation, he felt that this philosophy was truly lived at Riot Games.
Other games are toxic, but not as harsh against developers as Destiny
How is that to be seen? After all the stress at Destiny 2, Gafner has not chosen a quiet spot, as the community of Valorant is considered toxic, especially towards women.
Like other competitive shooters (CS:GO or Overwatch), Valorant also has a reputation for maintaining a toxic tone. Losing a ranked match is a blow to the ego, and many blame their teammates, insulting and screaming at them in the worst way.
However, it should be an improvement for Gafner because, in many games, players are toxic to each other, but in Destiny 2, the anger often and extremely directed against the developers. This is usually not the case in other games – unless a release goes completely wrong.
Tough statement from Bungie: No answers until everyone feels safe again
How is it at Destiny? It is still bad there. By now, they have no one who stands up for the community but an anonymous account.
Through this account, they now complained on Reddit, saying they could now talk more with the players. A player criticized that there was hardly any communication.
But Bungie says: Thank you for the feedback, but unfortunately, no.
Developers are still being harassed. And anyone using a “Community Manager” account makes themselves a target.
In the past, they often answered questions. But that time is over. As long as everyone does not feel safe again, one should not expect answers.
Nevertheless, they would look at feedback. As DeeJ always beautifully said: “We are listening.” Anyone with problems can contact the Bungie help forum. There they are more likely to be found – so maybe.
What is behind this: It sounds as if Bungie is quite miffed and has had enough after all the criticism they have had to listen to in recent years.
Well, the toxic parts of the community probably should have listened to Gafner better than to threaten him.
That things have turned at Bungie and they no longer let themselves be messed with had to be learned the hard way by a German Twitch streamer:
