Overwatch streamer Daniel ‘Dafran’ Francesca has been suspended again, but this time he claims innocence.
Dafran has a reputation for sometimes behaving negatively in-game, and one that he makes no efforts to sugar-coat.
Though his most infamous suspension was that which originally ended his professional career, Dafran has been suspended on multiple occasions for offences such as throwing in ranked games and toxic in-game chat.
Dafran’s latest suspension comes as a result of “disruptive behavior”, a consequence of the automated system responded to an influx of reports against Dafran’s account.
According to Dafran, however, in this case he was actually legitimately trying to win and playing seriously in all of his games – he was just doing so while trying to practice the new version of Torbjörn.
For most of Overwatch’s history, Torbjörn has often been considered something of a “troll” pick, a hero so niche and off-meta that in a lot of cases simply picking him is an indication that the player isn’t taking the game seriously.
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Following the rework, however, Torbjörn is now far more versatile and powerful, making it worthwhile for players to actually practice and use him. Unfortunately for Dafran, doing so seems likely to have been the reason for his suspension.
Fellow Overwatch streamer Brandon ‘Seagull’ Larned gave his perspective on the issue, stating that it’s something that players practicing unusual heroes on “one-trick” accounts have to deal with, but that Dafran is likely particularly susceptible because “people see Dafran on torb and they think he’s throwing and insta report because of his history.”
Though no announcement has yet been made, rumors in the off-season have suggested that Dafran could be set to make his return to professional play by joining the Atlanta Reign.
Dafran currently maintains that the reports are inaccurate, but with Atlanta having recently announced their team name and branding it seems likely that the team will soon confirm who will be on their starting roster for Season Two.