VALORANT Community Drama - Episode 1

Former Overwatch pro and streamer Daniel “Dafran” Francesca became the subject of a lot of controversies this weekend. He’s been accused of using hackers to boost his rating, as well as insulting another player in a tournament. The community seems divided on the issue. So where does everything stand?

It began with the Solary Cup last week, which Dafran was participating in with Team Prodigy. According to a Twitlonger from their opponent, former Overwatch League player Damien “Hyp” Souville, Dafran’s team was not on time for their game. From Dafran’s side, Hyp’s team asked to change the time, though Hyp specifically refutes this. Whatever you choose to believe, Team Prodigy was not on time for their game. Members of Hyp’s team let Team Prodigy and Dafran know on twitter, less than kindly. Dafran responded by insulting Hyp, leading to his permaban from all Solary events.

Both parties are at fault here. Hyp’s team should have been more understanding of Team Prodigy’s situation, and not lashed out at them on Twitter. Dafran certainly should have been much better with his own response. But that is not where the controversy surrounding him ends.

This tweet has also been making the rounds this week, showing Dafran colluding with a cheater to win a game. Again, people are divided. Some say this behavior is unacceptable from such a prominent member of the community, while others say he did report the cheater after the game, and that he can’t dodge and face penalties for not playing with a cheater.

Again, the solution is somewhere in the middle. There’s nothing wrong with Dafran sticking out the game and reporting the cheater afterwards. But he also shouldn’t have ordered his team and his friend to ignore the problem completely.

This isn’t the first time Dafran has gotten into trouble. In Overwatch, Dafran has been banned several times, including back in 2017 when he was competing on Selfless Gaming. Coming to the Overwatch League in 2019, the community’s worry was that he wouldn’t have the mental capacity to do it. He lasted for a stage, but couldn’t go any further. This seems to be another episode of the struggles that Dafran has keeping himself in check. Hopefully, he can bounce back from this. What do you think about the controversies going around the community in these early stages of VALORANT?